Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine

Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine provides a comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between spirituality, religion, and medical practice. The authors, all leading clinician-researchers in their fields, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the most recent empirical research of religion and spirituality within many distinct fields of medicine. Recognizing the interdisciplinary aspects of spirituality, religion, and health, the book also turns to scholarship throughout a multitude of academic fields-including psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, history, philosophy, and theology-to consider cultural dimensions of clinical practice. This is the first time in a single volume that readers can reflect on these multi-dimensional, complex issues with contributions from leading scholars, as well as the first collection that assesses how the medical context interacts with patient spirituality recognizing crucial differences between contexts from obstetrics and family medicine, to nursing, to gerontology and the ICU. The book concludes with a synthesis, identifying the best studies in the field of religion and health, ongoing weaknesses in research, and highlighting what can be confidently believed based on prior studies. The synthesis also considers relations between the empirical literature on religion and health and the theological and religious traditions, discussing places of convergence and tension, as well as remaining open questions for further reflection and research. Spirituality and Religion within the Culture of Medicine provides trainees and clinicians introductory information for newcomers to the field of spirituality, religion, and medicine, and provides researchers and scholars familiar with field critical and up-to-date analysis from a multi-disciplinary approach.