Ontological Jurisdiction and Professional Drift: A Sociological Analysis of De-Differentiation in Spiritual Care
OALib January 1, 2026 Tim Mussche
Spiritual care professions like spiritual direction and chaplaincy are losing their distinct professional identity by voluntarily adopting the language, credentials, and outcome measures of psychotherapy and counseling. Their original jurisdiction rested on an ontological claim—that experiences such as vocation, discernment, and being addressed by something beyond the self are real and not reducible to psychology. Drawing on sociological theories of professional boundaries and institutional mimicry, the article argues this absorption occurs not through external pressure but through practitioners' own imitation of therapeutic professions to gain legitimacy. Reversing this trend requires explicitly re-articulating what the authors call ontological jurisdiction, grounded in concepts like liminal competence and recognition.