This groundbreaking monograph establishes a foundational ethical framework for spiritually sensitive care in pluralistic settings. Bridging gaps in existing scholarship, it offers a rigorous approach that prioritizes the rights, goals, and preferences of the care recipient. Moving beyond traditional paradigms, this work articulates a model in which the ethical imperative of spiritual care is defined by its capacity to foster imminent positive outcomes—as understood by the recipient. Grounded in pluralism, this approach challenges caregivers to place the needs of those they serve above external objectives, ensuring a deeply respectful and ethically sound practice. In today’s diverse healthcare landscape, the ethical provision of spiritual care is a crucial resource for chaplains, healthcare professionals, and ethicists.

Dr. Robert Alan Price brings more than 25 years of experience in spiritual care and 13 years in clinical healthcare ethics. He is widely recognized as a national subject matter expert in clinical healthcare ethics and spiritual care. Dr. Price has served as a National Healthcare Ethicist at the Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Ethics in Healthcare. Prior to this role, he directed spiritual care departments at three major VA Healthcare Systems: VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, VA Black Hills Health Care System, and Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, after beginning his VA career in chaplaincy at Hampton VA Medical Center. He has been deeply involved in ethics both as a consultant and in ethics leadership in his last three positions.  In the private sector, Dr. Price has served as a provider and the Executive Director of a counseling agency in Virginia Beach after serving as Senior Pastor of churches in Virginia and New Jersey. He is a Certified Health Care Ethics Consultant (HEC-C) and Board Certified Chaplain with additional specialty board certification in Suicide Prevention (BCC-SP). His academic credentials include a Doctor of Philosophy in Healthcare Ethics, a Doctor of Ministry degree (the terminal practitioner’s degree in his previous field), and three Master’s degrees in Religion, Divinity, and Counseling.  He is an active member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH).