Disrupting Christian Hegemony and Developing Interreligious Spirituality: The Role of the Chaplain in Higher Education

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for the Degree of Doctor of Ministry at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities

ABSTRACT

Embedded into the very structures of many institutions of higher education is a dominant religious system, usually Christianity, which maintains inequalities, inequities, and oppression for those outside of this dominant religious system. Such barriers also hinder belonging, inclusion, spiritual health, and religious pluralism on campus. With the drastic change in religious demographics among college students, institutions of higher education need experienced leaders who are committed to disrupting Christian privilege, hegemony, and supremacy that maintain such inequalities. The chaplain in higher education is just such an expert who has the sacred opportunity in building religiously diverse and interreligious spaces of inclusivity, safety, belonging, and healing for students, faculty, and staff from a broad range of religious, spiritual, and secular traditions. By being a multifaceted theologian, disruptor of the dominant, champion for religious diversity, and multiple religious participant, chaplains embodying this four-fold approach to their work assist campus communities in reimagining spirituality, providing interreligious learning, and exploring religious pluralism. Surveying chaplains from across the field of higher education, the researcher collected mixed methodology data about the field of chaplaincy and led four focus groups to discuss the ways in which chaplains live into this four-fold approach to chaplaincy in their contexts. After presenting these results, the researcher argues that by their very presence and existence on campus, chaplains are essential members of institutions of higher education in creating systemic change, modeling interreligious participation, and dismantling barriers to spiritual flourishing.