While the modern science of medicine often seems nothing short of miraculous, religion still plays an important role in the past and present of many hospitals. When three-quarters of Americans believe that God can cure people who have been given little or no chance of survival by their doctors, how do today's technologically sophisticated health care organizations address spirituality and faith? Through a combination of interviews with nurses, doctors, and chaplains across the United States and close observation of their daily routines, Wendy Cadge takes readers inside major academic medical institutions to explore how today's doctors and hospitals address prayer and other forms of religion and spirituality. From chapels to intensive care units to the morgue, hospital caregivers speak directly in these pages about how religion is part of their daily work in visible and invisible ways. In Paging God, Cadge shifts attention away from the ongoing controversy about whether faith and spirituality should play a role in health care and back to the many ways that these powerful forces already function in healthcare today.

About the Author
Wendy Cadge is associate professor of sociology at Brandeis University and the author of Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"The blend of historical, archival research, in-depth interviews and participant observation, and visual analysis of archaeology and design is powerful. Wendy Cadge's attempts to make sense of this peculiar yet dominant social world will be enthusiastically received." (Elizabeth M. Armstrong, Princeton University)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226922119
Author Wendy Cadge
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 22mm * 16mm * 2mm