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.

About the Author
Michael J. Balboni is a theologian and social-scientific researcher at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is co-director of the Initiative on Health, Religion, and Spirituality at Harvard University and co-leads the National Conference on Medicine and Religion. His empirical research focuses on describing the spiritual beliefs and practices of patients, clinicians, and religious communities in end-of-life care. His theological work examines religion and spirituality within secular medical contexts, including Hostility to Hospitality (Oxford University Press), co-written with Tracy Balboni, MD. He is Senior Minister to the Longwood Christian Community, an intentional religious community of healthcare students and professionals in Boston. John R. Peteet is a psychiatrist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has authored or co-edited several books and numerous papers on the clinical interface between spirituality/religion and psychiatry and serves as president of the American Psychiatric Association's Caucus on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry.

Reviews
This volume has as its subtitle "from evidence to practice," which aptly describes what the collection of chapters is all about. It presents a comprehensive overview of evidence and practice related to religion/spirituality in medicine-a useful text for anyone conducting research in this field and an essential reading for anyone looking to learn more about the complex ways that religion and spirituality interface with health and health care. * Ana Borovecki, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197553961
Author Michael J. Balboni
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 757g
Dimensions(mm) 175mm * 249mm * 31mm