Religion, Spirituality and the Social Sciences

Religion, Spirituality and the Social Sciences
Author: Spalek, Basia
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2008-09-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781847420411

"This edited collection addresses important theoretical and methodological issues to explore ways of engaging with religion and spirituality when carrying out social science research. Divided into three sections, the book examines the notion of secularism in relation to contemporary Western society, including a focus upon secularisation; explores how the values underpinning social scientific enquiry might serve to marginalise religion and spirituality; and reflects on social science research methodologies when researching religion and spirituality."--BOOK JACKET.

Religion and the Social Sciences

Religion and the Social Sciences
Author: Jeff Levin
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2018-08-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1599474727

In recent years, researchers across the social sciences have made important contributions to the study of religion. Thanks to their inquiry, we have greatly improved our understanding of how religion influences the vital dimensions of our lives, communities, and institutions. To give this research the attention it deserves, editor Jeff Levin assembled a panel of preeminent social scientists and gave them a single directive: write the ultimate statement on religion from within their respective social science discipline or field. The result is this single volume, “state-of-the-science” compendium—a first of its kind for the study of religion. Composed of ten essays, this book details the study of religion within nine basic and applied areas of social science. Along with a critical introduction to this subject, these essays include the expert contributions of: Kenneth I. Pargament & Julie J. Exline on psychology Anthony Gill on political science Charles M. North on economics Barry Hankins on history Annette Mahoney on family studies Byron R. Johnson on criminology Linda K. George on gerontology William H. Jeynes on education Jeff Levin on epidemiology Each essay features: An introduction to the history of the discipline’s or field’s religious research, as well as its most important people and published works. A comprehensive overview of key research findings and theories. A detailed research agenda to guide future scholars. An annotated bibliography of seminal works for the reader’s further consideration. Broad in scope and essential in focus, Religion and the Social Sciences is a significant addition to the field. It will prove indispensable to both new and established scholars looking for a comprehensive treatment of the subject and seeking promising avenues to pursue in their own research.

Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research

Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research
Author: Sana Loue
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2017-06-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1493970399

This singular reference explores religion and spirituality as a vital, though often misconstrued, lens for building better understanding of and empathy with clients. A diverse palette of faiths and traditions is compared and contrasted (occasionally with secularism), focusing on areas of belief that may inspire, comfort, or trouble clients, including health and illness, mental illness, healing, coping, forgiveness, family, inclusion, and death. From assessment and intervention planning to conducting research, these chapters guide professionals in supporting and assisting clients without minimizing or overstating their beliefs. In addition, the book’s progression of ideas takes readers beyond the well-known concept of cultural competence to model a larger and more meaningful cultural safety. Among the topics included in the Handbook: Integrating religion and spirituality into social work practice. Cultural humility, cultural safety, and beyond: new understandings and implications for social work. Healing traditions, religion/spirituality, and health. Diagnosis: religious/spiritual experience or mental illness? Understandings of dying, death, and mourning. (Re)building bridges in and with family and community. Ethical issues in conducting research on religion and spirituality. The Handbook of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice and Research is a richly-textured resource for social workers and mental health professionals engaged in clinical practice and/or research seeking to gain varied perspectives on how the religion and spirituality of their clients/research participants may inform their work.

The New Sciences of Religion

The New Sciences of Religion
Author: W. Grassie
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2010-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0230114741

Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.

Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health

Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health
Author: Doug Oman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 478
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319739662

This volume reviews the exploding religion/spirituality (R/S) and health literature from a population health perspective. It emphasizes the distinctive Public Health concern for promoting health and preventing disease in societies, nations, and communities, as well as individuals. Part I offers a rigorous review of mainstream biomedical and social scientific theory and evidence on R/S-health relations. Addressing key gaps in previous literature, it reviews evidence from a population health viewpoint, surveying pertinent findings and theories from the perspective of Public Health subfields that range from Environmental Health Sciences to Public Health Nutrition to Health Policy & Management and Public Health Education. In Part II, practitioners describe in detail how attending to R/S factors enhances the work of clinicians and community health practitioners. R/S provides an additional set of concepts and tools to address opportunities and challenges ranging from behavior and institutional change to education, policy, and advocacy. Part III empowers educators, analyzing pedagogical needs and offering diverse short chapters by faculty who teach R/S-health connections in many nationally top-ranked Schools of Public Health. International and global perspectives are highlighted in a concluding chapter and many places throughout the volume. This book addresses a pressing need for Public Health research, practice and teaching: A substantial evidence base now links religious and spiritual (R/S) factors to health. In the past 20 years, over 100 systematic reviews and 30 meta-analyses on R/S-health were published in refereed journals. But despite this explosion of interest, R/S factors remain neglected in Public Health teaching and research. Public Health lags behind related fields such as medicine, psychology, and nursing, where R/S factors receive more attention. This book can help Public Health catch up. It offers abundant key resources to empower public health professionals, instructors, and students to address R/S, serving at once as a course text, a field manual and a research handbook.

Religion, spirituality and the social sciences

Religion, spirituality and the social sciences
Author: Spalek, Basia
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2008-09-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1847423639

A growing number of people are claiming or reclaiming a religious or spiritual identity for themselves. Yet, in contemporary Western societies, the frameworks of understanding that have developed within the social science disciplines, and which are used to analyse data, are secular in nature, and so may be inappropriate for investigating some aspects of religion, spirituality and faith and how these intersect with individuals' lives. This edited collection addresses important theoretical and methodological issues to explore ways of engaging with religion and spirituality when carrying out social science research. Divided into three sections, the book examines the notion of secularism in relation to contemporary western society, including a focus upon secularisation; explores how the values underpinning social scientific enquiry might serve to marginalise religion and spirituality; and reflects on social science research methodologies when researching religion and spirituality. With international contributions from key academics in the fields of religious studies, cultural studies, political science, criminology, sociology, health and social policy, this engaging book will provide social science students, educators, researchers and practitioners with an essential overview of key debates around secularism, faith, spirituality and social science research.

A Sociology of Spirituality

A Sociology of Spirituality
Author: Peter C. Jupp
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2016-03-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 131718663X

The emergence of spirituality in contemporary culture in holistic forms suggests that organised religions have failed. This thesis is explored and disputed in this book in ways that mark important critical divisions. This is the first collection of essays to assess the significance of spirituality in the sociology of religion. The authors explore the relationship of spirituality to the visual, individualism, gender, identity politics, education and cultural capital. The relationship between secularisation and spirituality is examined and consideration is given to the significance of Simmel in relation to a sociology of spirituality. Problems of defining spirituality are debated with reference to its expression in the UK, the USA, France and Holland. This timely, original and well structured volume provides undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers with a scholarly appraisal of a phenomenon that can only increase in sociological significance.

Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality

Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality
Author: Essien, Essien D.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2021-01-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1799845966

There is an interesting knowledge trajectory that God remains incomprehensible, not imperceptible. This lends credence to the fact that religious study since the Enlightenment has dedicated itself almost entirely to the problem of reconciling the non-existence of God in the physical world with his necessary existence in the metaphysical world. When seriously examined, it would be discovered that these two aspects are logically contradictory, and this is a problem with no solution. But interpreting God not as a physical being but as a phenomenological thing changes the nature of the problem enough that a solution emerges almost automatically. In this phenomenological model, the crux of the matter is that God does not exist, but God is real. Therefore, it is imperative to return to experience and verifiability, hence, purging it of unexamined and often hidden assumptions. Phenomenological Approaches to Religion and Spirituality brings together the different disciplines and research approaches to provide a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenology of God and spirituality, as well as offering an effective epistemological apparatus capable of dealing with this concept. The book employs multidisciplinary approaches from religious studies, theology, philosophy, anthropology, and other segments to dissect the subject matter for efficient evaluation and all-inclusive findings. While covering various aspects of religion such as the testaments of the Bible, the church, the religious experience, and various aspects of spirituality, this book is intended for theologians, philosophers, religious leaders, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, public institutions, and agencies with a special interest in religious matters, values, knowledge, and truth.

Religion and Spirituality Across Cultures

Religion and Spirituality Across Cultures
Author: Chu Kim-Prieto
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9401789509

This book presents an integrated review and critical analysis of the recent research in the positive psychology of religion, with focus on the positive psychology of religion across different cultures and religions. The book provides a review of the literature on different contributions of religion and spirituality to positive functioning and well-being and reviews religions across the world, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Native American religions, and Hinduism. It fills a unique place in the market’s increasing interest and demand in the psychology of religion, as well as positive psychology. While the target audience is researchers, scholars, and students in psychology, cross-cultural studies, religious studies, and social sciences, it will be useful for anyone interested in better understanding the contributions of religion and culture in subjective well-being.

Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice

Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice
Author: Fiona Gardner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2022-03-07
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1000547302

Blending material from social work with religious and spiritual sources, this book makes explicit that engaging with spirituality in its broadest sense is an essential aspect of socially just social work practice. Gardner connects shared understandings of spiritual/religious traditions, critically reflective social work, First Nations relational world views, green and relational approaches. Through multiple unique case studies, Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice: A Socially Just Approach outlines the theoretical framework of critical spirituality, which is explored as a way of workers’ understanding their own and others’ sense of meaning, whether it is spiritual and/or religious, and to encourage workers to be mindful, open, humble and energised as workers. Combining the theoretical and practical, this book outlines strategies and processes to ensure social workers embed spirituality in their practice constructively and inclusively across all areas of practice. This book will be of interest to those engaged in the wider field of social work, from direct service to policy development.