Kerk in context

Review religieuze praktijken in functioneel gedifferentieerde systemen

Samenvatting

Organized religion can be found at places that are normally closed for ordinary people. Representatives of this religion are active in care institutions, in the army and in prisons. This however creates tensions between the professional norms of these institutions on the one hand, and the norms of the religion on the other. Recently, four publications appeared that address these questions. First, Gärtner considers the religious activity in these non-church surroundings as exemplary for religion in high modernity. Second, the dissertation of Huyzer discusses the role of official church ministry in care institutions, a role which is not taken for granted. The book of Van Iersel, third, shows that the social teaching of the church can be of help to make relevant the role of the churches in spiritual care at the military institutions. Finally, the volume of Eyk et al. about spiritual care in prisons makes clear that institutional care needs the church office and the parish structures outside the institution. The conclusion is that exactly this last aspect has been neglected in most studies, and that spiritual care in institutions cannot be disconnected from religious organization outside these institutions.