Hospital Spiritual Care Around the World
This is a multi-author edited volume examining hospital chaplaincy
practices across nine countries. These countries are the United States,
Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy,
Turkiye, and Malaysia. Each country chapter traces the historical origins,
institutionalization process, legal-ethical framework, education/
certification models, and current practices of hospital spiritual care in
that national context.
The United States chapter traces the emergence of Clinical Pastoral Education
(CPE) and the professionalization of chaplaincy through the
foundational contributions of Anton Boisen and Richard Cabot. The
Germany chapter examines the historical development and current
institutional structure of hospital spiritual care in the country, while
the United Kingdom chapter covers the multi-faith chaplaincy model
within the NHS, its legal foundations, and professional accreditation
structures (UKBHC, PSA). The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy
chapters each present their own national trajectory of secularization
and institutional development. The Turkiye and Malaysia chapters address
the emergence of spiritual care and its pioneering institutions in
non-Western settings. The closing chapter discusses the impact of digitalization,
artificial intelligence, and large language models on spiritual
care practice, along with future scenarios for the field.
The volume offers a comprehensive resource bringing together the
global diversity of hospital chaplaincy and each country’s distinct historical,
legal, and institutional trajectory.
Keywords: Hospital Chaplaincy; Spiritual Care; Psychology of Religion;
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE); Holistic Health