Handbook on Religion and Health Pathways for a Turbulent Future

This revelatory Handbook explores the relationship between religion and health, emphasising the effects of organised religion and spirituality on community, population, and public health. While comprehensively summarising the current state of the field, it focusses on pursuing new pathways vital for human health in a turbulent world.

Bringing together an impressive array of internationally recognised experts, the Handbook on Religion and Health outlines a number of conceptual and theoretical frameworks for the field. Chapters examine religion and health on the micro, macro, and meso levels, before analysing wider, more holistic understandings of religion and health, through ecological, de-colonial, and sociological perspectives. Chapter authors also assess religion and health from the grassroots, and the centrality of the community to experiences of disease and spirituality.

Expertly traversing an interdisciplinary area which is constantly expanding, this Handbook is a fascinating resource for students and scholars of health policy, religious studies, and cultural sociology. It will also appeal to practitioners and policy makers in global organisations operating in the public health sector.

Edited by James R. Cochrane, Emeritus Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, & Senior Scholar, School of Public Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Gary R. Gunderson, Professor of Faith and the Health of the Public, Wake Forest University and Teresa Cutts, Academic Liaison, Stakeholder Health. Formerly Research Asst. Professor, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, US