New Dimensions in Spirituality, Religions, and Aging: Neglected Aspects of Human Development

New Dimensions in Spirituality, Religion, and Aging expands the traditional focus of religiosity to include and evaluate recent research and discoveries on the role of secular spirituality in the aging process. Contributors examine the ways conventional religion and other forms of spirituality affect human development, health and longevity, and they demonstrate how myth-creation enables humans to make meaning in their lives. Taken together, the book points to further research to enhance current knowledge, approaches to care, and social policies.

Vern L. Bengtson is Research Professor in the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of Southern California (USC). Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Bengston held the AARP/University Chair at USC and was past president of Gerontological Society of America and a MERIT awardee from the National Institutes of Health. He has written extensively on gerontology, sociology of aging, and religion, publishing 17 books and over 250 research papers.

Merril Silverstein is Marjorie Cantor Professor of Aging Studies and the inaugural holder of the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies at Syracuse University. Dr. Silverstein’s research has focused on aging in the context of family life in over 150 research publications, with added emphases on life course and international perspectives. He is a Brookdale Fellow and Fulbright Senior Scholar, and between 2010-2014 served as editor-in-chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.