- Foreword
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Section I Traditions
- Chapter 1 Medicine and religion: a historical perspective
- Chapter 2 Buddhism: perspectives for the contemporary world
- Chapter 3 Chinese Religion: Taoism
- Chapter 4 Christianity
- Chapter 5 Feminist spirituality
- Chapter 6 Indian religion and the Ayurvedic tradition
- Chapter 7 The western humanist tradition
- Chapter 8 Indigenous spiritualities
- Chapter 9 Islam
- Chapter 10 Judaism
- Chapter 11 ‘New Age’ spirituality
- Chapter 12 Philosophy
- Chapter 13 Secularism
- Chapter 14 Sikhism
- Section II Concepts
- Chapter 15 Healthcare spirituality: a question of knowledge
- Chapter 16 Personhood
- Chapter 17 Belief
- Chapter 18 Hope
- Chapter 19 Meaning making
- Chapter 20 Compassion: luxury or necessity?
- Chapter 21 Dignity: a novel path into the spiritual landscape of the human heart
- Chapter 22 Cure and healing
- Chapter 23 Suffering
- Chapter 24 Ritual
- Chapter 25 Culture and religion
- Section III Practice
- Chapter 26 Models of spiritual care
- Chapter 27 Healthcare chaplaincy
- Chapter 28 Complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine
- Chapter 29 Restorative medicine
- Chapter 30 Nursing
- Chapter 31 Faith community (parish) nursing
- Chapter 32 Psychiatry and mental health treatment
- Chapter 33 Social work
- Chapter 34 Care of children
- Chapter 35 Care of elderly people
- Chapter 36 Palliative care
- Chapter 37 Spirituality and the arts: discovering what really matters
- Chapter 38 Care of the soul
- Chapter 39 Counselling
- Chapter 40 Dignity conserving care: research evidence
- Chapter 41 Pastoral theology in healthcare settings: blessed irritant for holistic human care
- Chapter 42 Next steps for spiritual assessment in healthcare
- Section IV Research
- Chapter 43 Methodology
- Chapter 44 Measures
- Chapter 45 On the links between religion and health: what has empirical research taught us?
- Chapter 46 Quality of life
- Chapter 47 Cognitive sciences: a perspective on spirituality and religious experience
- Chapter 48 Spiritual Well-Being Scale: mental and physical health relationships
- Chapter 49 Prayer and meditation
- Chapter 50 Resiliency and coping
- Chapter 51 Spiritual experience, practice, and community
- Section V Policy and Education
- Chapter 52 Policy
- Chapter 53 Healthcare organizations: corporate spirituality
- Chapter 54 Utility and commissioning of spiritual carers
- Chapter 55 Social care
- Chapter 56a Curriculum development, courses, and CPE
- Chapter 56b Curriculum development
- Chapter 57 Competences in spiritual care education and training
- Chapter 58 Guidance from the humanities for professional formation
- Chapter 59 Training and formation: a case study
- Chapter 60 Interdisciplinary teamwork
- Chapter 61 Ethical principles for spiritual care
- Section VI Challenges
- Chapter 62 Contemporary spirituality
- Chapter 63 The future of religion
- Chapter 64 The future of spirituality and healthcare
- Index
(p. 97) Concepts
In this chapter, I will look at how and why it is that healthcare practices have a tendency to focus on buckets, rather than waterfalls, and why it is that spirituality is required both to bridge and to fill the gap between the two, that is, to offer something new and to affirm the necessity of both. The way that I will approach this task is by beginning with the question of knowledge. The question ‘how do we know what we know’ sounds like an abstract philosophical argument. However, as will become clear, it is a deeply practical question that is foundational for our understanding of why spirituality in healthcare is not only important, but absolutely necessary. Spirituality is a form of knowledge that reveals important things about how and why we choose to care in the ways we do. It is a form of knowledge that is different from scientific knowledge and yet deeply tied in to it. We need both, in order to care well. The chapter will point out the theoretical and practical significance of spirituality and offer a rationale for its necessary incorporation into contemporary healthcare practices.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Foreword
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Section I Traditions
- Chapter 1 Medicine and religion: a historical perspective
- Chapter 2 Buddhism: perspectives for the contemporary world
- Chapter 3 Chinese Religion: Taoism
- Chapter 4 Christianity
- Chapter 5 Feminist spirituality
- Chapter 6 Indian religion and the Ayurvedic tradition
- Chapter 7 The western humanist tradition
- Chapter 8 Indigenous spiritualities
- Chapter 9 Islam
- Chapter 10 Judaism
- Chapter 11 ‘New Age’ spirituality
- Chapter 12 Philosophy
- Chapter 13 Secularism
- Chapter 14 Sikhism
- Section II Concepts
- Chapter 15 Healthcare spirituality: a question of knowledge
- Chapter 16 Personhood
- Chapter 17 Belief
- Chapter 18 Hope
- Chapter 19 Meaning making
- Chapter 20 Compassion: luxury or necessity?
- Chapter 21 Dignity: a novel path into the spiritual landscape of the human heart
- Chapter 22 Cure and healing
- Chapter 23 Suffering
- Chapter 24 Ritual
- Chapter 25 Culture and religion
- Section III Practice
- Chapter 26 Models of spiritual care
- Chapter 27 Healthcare chaplaincy
- Chapter 28 Complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine
- Chapter 29 Restorative medicine
- Chapter 30 Nursing
- Chapter 31 Faith community (parish) nursing
- Chapter 32 Psychiatry and mental health treatment
- Chapter 33 Social work
- Chapter 34 Care of children
- Chapter 35 Care of elderly people
- Chapter 36 Palliative care
- Chapter 37 Spirituality and the arts: discovering what really matters
- Chapter 38 Care of the soul
- Chapter 39 Counselling
- Chapter 40 Dignity conserving care: research evidence
- Chapter 41 Pastoral theology in healthcare settings: blessed irritant for holistic human care
- Chapter 42 Next steps for spiritual assessment in healthcare
- Section IV Research
- Chapter 43 Methodology
- Chapter 44 Measures
- Chapter 45 On the links between religion and health: what has empirical research taught us?
- Chapter 46 Quality of life
- Chapter 47 Cognitive sciences: a perspective on spirituality and religious experience
- Chapter 48 Spiritual Well-Being Scale: mental and physical health relationships
- Chapter 49 Prayer and meditation
- Chapter 50 Resiliency and coping
- Chapter 51 Spiritual experience, practice, and community
- Section V Policy and Education
- Chapter 52 Policy
- Chapter 53 Healthcare organizations: corporate spirituality
- Chapter 54 Utility and commissioning of spiritual carers
- Chapter 55 Social care
- Chapter 56a Curriculum development, courses, and CPE
- Chapter 56b Curriculum development
- Chapter 57 Competences in spiritual care education and training
- Chapter 58 Guidance from the humanities for professional formation
- Chapter 59 Training and formation: a case study
- Chapter 60 Interdisciplinary teamwork
- Chapter 61 Ethical principles for spiritual care
- Section VI Challenges
- Chapter 62 Contemporary spirituality
- Chapter 63 The future of religion
- Chapter 64 The future of spirituality and healthcare
- Index