Managing Positionalities when Researching Healthcare Chaplaincy

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on my position as a scholar of religion without an active personal commitment to faith, and the concomitant approach to the relationship between theology, sociology and religious studies that was developed when contemplating the implications of my positionality. With reference to my experiences of research with acute healthcare chaplains, I will elaborate on the use of practical theology in response to varying participant reactions to my positionality, and as a corrective to dominant healthcare chaplaincy discourses. It was therefore necessary to consider the challenges of engaging with theology without a personal commitment to faith, as well as the tensions between theology and sociology. Practical theology is also expounded as a method of engaging with various religious worldviews, rather than imposing a unilateral normative framework on the understandings of healthcare chaplains. It is through adopting practical theology and highlighting its points of convergence with sociology and religious studies that new contributions can be made to the fields of theology, religious studies and the social sciences.