Abstract:

As a hospital chaplain I am very conscious of boundaries. Over the years I have stood at the boundaries be-tween birth and life, life and death, sickness and health. I have also been challenged by my contacts with other professionals in healthcare whose thoughts about their lives and work stimulated my thinking and faith. The boundaries between social worker and chaplain, medicine and religion, pastoral care and psychotherapy. I have also been enriched by my contacts with clergy of other faiths, with rabbis, priests, ministers, imams, and healers - the boundaries of religious faiths. So it was both a privilege and a pleasure to be asked to contribute the fol-lowing section to this new journal which will be a forum for information across many of those same boundaries, not forgetting geographical boundaries. For the past 10 years now I have been channelling my interest and en-ergy in the boundary issues into the construction of a database which contains records of the ideas and beliefs of chaplains from around the world, as well as other healthcare professionals whose work has, in my judgement, significance for the practice of pastoral care. In this and in future issues, I shall be bringing to your attention material that I hope will enrich your ministry. It will be material culled from an international selection of pastoral care writings, as well as other peer-reviewed journals. It will reflect the ministries of men and women of different faiths. I hope their words will stimulate your thinking as well as deepening and enriching your ministry.

Author: W. Noel Brown