Good Tools Are Half the Job

“Theology at its best must equip pastors on the front lines of ministry. Pastoring at its best will draw on the best of theological insights. This book shows us how all of that can happen. And in this case a world-class theologian and a gifted hospital chaplain really know how to talk to each other. Together they impart much-needed wisdom in this wonderful book!”


—Richard Mouw, President emeritus, Fuller Theological Seminary





“This book is a gift. A work of profound pastoral and theological wisdom composed, not in the library, but at the hospital bedside. Here we find a hospital chaplain and a systematic theologian working together to make a fresh case for the deeper integration of pastoral care and Christian theology. Together they invite us to ask a rather uncomfortable but critically important question: What would happen to your theology at the bedside?”


—Matthew Kaemingk, Fuller Theological Seminary





“Christian academics as well as ministers too often presume that ‘doctrine’ names an abstract discipline, one disconnected from the practical work of ‘pastoral care.’ This book displays the necessity—the inseparability—of theology for ministry. Far from rendering the minister a judgmental or distanced presence, these stories of chaplaincy illustrate how being tethered to the reality of the triune God frees us to love others in innovative, unexpected, and sometimes disruptive ways.”


—Erin Dufault-Hunter, Fuller Theological Seminary





“This book aims at demonstrating the importance of the role of theology in chaplaincy and pastoral care. Its main title (Good Tools Are Half the Job) signals professional modesty as well as reflexive distance to its subject matter. Yet the fifteen pastoral presentations and theological meditations are most likely to move and illuminate their readers since they cover an immense span of what might be termed questions of life and death.”


—Michael Welker, University of Heidelberg, Germany





“Good Tools Are Half the Trade takes us on guided tours of the life and work of two theologians. One whose daily work traverses hospital hallways and requires standing alongside those undergoing illness, loss in various forms, and death. We get a front-row seat as Margriet offers the gift of accompaniment and spiritual and affective attunement to those facing the most painful experiences of life—and which is, from beginning to end, profoundly theological and relentlessly in pursuit of shalom. The other theologian has habitually transgressed the established pathways of academia for decades, running cross-grain to the narrow scholasticism that maintains its existence by keeping the suffering world at a safe distance. We look over the shoulder of Kees as he draws on ancient and modern voices to discern the subterranean roots producing the fruits of beauty and despair we regularly encounter. Wise and secure. Open to life’s paradoxes and vulnerable to its brutal realities without crumbling, hiding, or anesthetizing. In Good Tools Are Half the Trade, the van der Koois awaken us to wonder, awe, gratitude, and finally, to wisdom.”


—Cory Willson, Calvin Theological Seminary