Currently, religion is absent or severely underemphasized within the medical humanities, and The Routledge Handbook of Spirituality, Religion, and the Medical Humanities forges direct engagements between the fields of medical and health humanities, on the one hand, and religious studies and theological studies on the other. This volume consists of 35 chapters from an international and interdisciplinary range of contributors, organized into 6 parts:
Religious Studies and Theology in the Medical Humanities: Tensions and Transformations The Socio-Spiritual Self Culture and the Culturally Mediated Space, Place, and Bodies Beliefs, Brains, and Behaviours Spirituality and Religion in Healthcare: Application and Impact
By directly connecting major questions and themes from each of these domains, this volume firmly establishes a needed bridge and valuable resource for stakeholders with an interest in how mental and physical health relates to the human drive for meaning.
Introduction Part I. Religious Studies and Theology in the Medical Humanities: Tensions and Transformations 1. The Line of Beauty: Religion, Medicine, and the Humanities 2. The Politics of Life and Death: The Medical Humanities and Religion in Public Health 3. Mystical Theology and the Phenomenology of Health 4. How May the Medical/Scientific Investigation of Spiritual Experiences Impact Religious Discourse and Theology? 5. Toward Shared Meaning: How Resilience Uncovers and Reshapes Transdisciplinary Common Ground 6. Medical Anthropology and New Testament Texts: Examining the Use of the Disease-Illness and Curing-Healing Distinctions in New Testament Scholarship Part II. The Socio-Spiritual Self 7. Medieval Visionary Writing and the Spiritual Self: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe 8. Dividuality and Death: Identity, Wellbeing, and Grief in Western and Non-Western Thought 9. American Muslim Identities at the Intersection of Religion and Health 10. Methods of Wellbeing: Amplifying the Culture and Experiences of Working-Class Clergy in the Church of England 11. Revisiting Ars Moriendi: End-of-Life Narratives, Spiritual Meaning, and Legacy-Making in West-European End-of-Life Care Part III. Culture and the Culturally Mediated 12. Rituals and Cultural Expressions of Health During Pandemics in East Africa: COVID-19 Control in Kenya 13. Navigating the Counters of Religion vis-à-vis Abortion and Contraception in Contemporary Iran: A Sociological Approach 14. Jewish Bioethics: Arguments, Persuasions and Histories 15. Himalayan Buddhist Views on Women's Health and Wellness 16. Health Sermons in National Negro Health Week 17. Importance of Heat Revived: Premodern Medical Beliefs on Health and Gender in the East and West Part IV. Space, Place, and Bodies 18. Producing Healing Spaces for Body and Soul in Byzantine Hospitals 19. Nineteenth-Century British Asylum Chapels: Healing Spaces of Worship 20. Being and Becoming 'At Home': Place and Time in End-of-Life Care 21. Sitting With Grief: Towards an Infrastructure of Intimacy on the Oncology Unit 22. Lee Jema’s Sasang Constitutional Medicine and Its Influence on Contemporary Dietary Therapy in South Korea 23. Dreaming for Her Daughter: Surrogacy and the Silent Subject in The Miracles of St. Artemios Part V. Beliefs, Brains, and Behaviours 24. Sacred Moments for Health and Wellbeing 25. Christian Beliefs About Mental Ill-health 26. R/S as a Meaning-making System: The Embodied Self in a Relational Environment 27. Military Moral Injury and the Importance of Christian Theologies of Guilt, Forgiveness, and Hope in Preventing Negative Outcomes 28. Spirituality, Religion, and Recovery from Addictions Part VI. Spirituality and Religion in Healthcare: Application and Impact 29. Inclusive Spirituality or Particular Religion? Contrasting Approaches to Religion and Spirituality Education and Formation in American Medical Education 30. Cultural Humility: A Mindset for Excellent Healthcare 31. “Making It Known to Your People”: Speaking and Acting Cancer in the Contemporary Diné World 32. Integration of Spirituality in Mental Health Care in Brazil: The Case of Spiritism 33. Integrative Spiritual Care for Mental Health Concerns: Lessons from an Intensive Chaplaincy Training Program 34. Spiritual Care in End-of-Life Care: A Challenge For All Health Care Professionals 35. Epilogue
Kristy L. Slominski is an Associate Professor of Religion, Science, and Health in Religious Studies at the University of Arizona. Adam J. Powell is a Lecturer in Medical Humanities at the Institute for Medical Humanities and the Department of Theology & Religion at Durham University. Christopher C. H. Cook is an Emeritus Professor of Spirituality, Theology and Health, and former Director for the Centre for Spirituality, Theology & Health at Durham University.
