Book Synopsis Chaplaincy. Pastoral care. Ministry. The care of souls. What lies beneath that which lies beneath them? Like Virgil, chaplain Stephen Faller guides an unusual tour winding through personal disclosure about ministry, adoption, chaplaincy, and disability. Contextualized within chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education, Faller examines these visions from a little-known country. Within the landscape are the sights of living in a post-9/11 world as they prefigure the change and uncertainty that marked American life and ministry after the pandemic of 2020. A conclusion to a dialectical inquiry at the end of the world, Faller explores the history of philosophy and religion in order to navigate an already unusual life within strange times. Essential reading for chaplains, and helpful insights for all those within the helping professions. As ministry continues to move beyond the surrounding walls of the institutional building, Faller suggests that chaplaincy can be a meaningful space for ordained ministry as one of the great spaces between spaces. Moreover, this confessors confession spells a way for storytellers and story collectors to find direction when meaning is lost. Chaplaincy itself is a meaningful response to a world turned upside down. Review Quotes Stephen Faller is like no chaplain you have ever met. I say this not because he does his demanding chaplaincy work and writes his fascinating books from a wheelchair. Rather, it is the many perspectives from which he narrates chaplaincy, life, and faith. He is a faithful curator of secrets, which is one of the burdens of ministry. More than that, Faller himself is a secret, whose gnomic take on marginality reveals an amazing breadth and depth of learning and spirituality. --Richard Lischer, professor emeritus, Duke Divinity School Marked by both whimsy and depth, chaplain Stephen Faller invites readers into the vulnerable spaces chaplains call home, spaces that are often filled with pain or plagued by contested values and perspectives. Faller, in good chaplain form, invites us to accompany him into new understanding, appreciation, and perhaps even wonder about this remarkable and often overlooked role in our society. --Trace Hawthorn, principal/owner, Haythorn Coaching & Consulting, LLC Chaplaincy is a complex but vital discipline that seeks to bring spirituality to the center in the practices of various institutions. Much has been written about chaplaincy, but much less about the theology of chaplaincy. In this book, Stephen Faller, through personal reflection and solid theological work, guides us into the theological dimensions of chaplaincy and shows us the difference theology makes. This is an interesting and timely book. --John Swinton, professor in practical theology and pastoral care, Kings College, University of Aberdeen About the Author Stephen Faller is a board-certified chaplain and a clinical educator of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, and a diplomate of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy in Hopewell, NJ. He is the author of Beyond the Matrix (2004), Reality TV (2009), The Art of Spiritual Midwifery (2015), and Christianity and the Art of Wheelchair Maintenance (2018). He has a master of divinity from Duke Divinity School and a master of theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.