The Soul of Medicine : Spiritual Perspectives and Clinical Practice

Cover Contents List of Contributors Preface PART I: HISTORICAL AND CLINICAL CONTEXT 1 Spirituality and Biomedicine: A History of Harmony and Discord 2 Approaching Spirituality in Clinical Practice PART II: MAJOR TRADITIONS AND MEDICINE 3 Judaism 4 Hinduism 5 Islam 6 Christianity 7 Buddhism 8 Eclectic Spirituality 9 Christian Science 10 Jehovah's Witnesses 11 A Secular Perspective PART III: IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS 12 Ethical Considerations and Implications for Professionalism 13 Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy. 14 Teaching and Learning at the Interface of Medicine and SpiritualityIndex A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y Z.

To what extent should spiritual information be part of a patient’s medical assessment? How should physicians respond when patients refuse life-saving care on religious grounds? Should doctors pray with their patients? Questions such as these raise deeper ones about the goals of medicine and the nature of healing. In a set of engaging and candid essays, The Soul of Medicine explores the role and influence of spirituality in clinical practice, professionalism, and medical education.

The contributors to this volume approach this topic from their own spiritual perspectives—Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, New Age / Eclectic, secular, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christian Scientist. Their thought-provoking essays provide rich insights not only into the needs of patients with various world views but also into how spirituality influences the practice of medicine.

When their own spiritual issues arise in medical practice, physicians rely on their professionalism, ethics, and education. To better understand how various world views are incorporated into clinical work, doctors must ask themselves—as these contributors have—a series of important questions: What insights about life and healing does your faith provide? How does your faith challenge or reinforce contemporary medicine? How do you assess and address spirituality in clinical practice? How do your own beliefs influence your interactions with patients?

The Soul of Medicine encourages medical students and practitioners to recognize the spiritual dimensions of medicine, to consider how these dimensions inform their own education and practice, and to be compassionate about their patients’—and their own—religious beliefs.

The Johns Hopkins University Press

To what extent should spiritual information be part of a patient’s medical assessment? How should physicians respond when patients refuse life-saving care on religious grounds? Should doctors pray with their patients? Questions such as these raise deeper ones about the goals of medicine and the nature of healing. In a set of engaging and candid essays, The Soul of Medicine explores the role and influence of spirituality in clinical practice, professionalism, and medical education.

The contributors to this volume approach this topic from their own spiritual perspectives—Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, New Age / Eclectic, secular, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christian Scientist. Their thought-provoking essays provide rich insights not only into the needs of patients with various world views but also into how spirituality influences the practice of medicine.

When their own spiritual issues arise in medical practice, physicians rely on their professionalism, ethics, and education. To better understand how various world views are incorporated into clinical work, doctors must ask themselves—as these contributors have—a series of important questions: What insights about life and healing does your faith provide? How does your faith challenge or reinforce contemporary medicine? How do you assess and address spirituality in clinical practice? How do your own beliefs influence your interactions with patients?

The Soul of Medicine encourages medical students and practitioners to recognize the spiritual dimensions of medicine, to consider how these dimensions inform their own education and practice, and to be compassionate about their patients’—and their own—religious beliefs.

Spirituality and biomedicine : a history of harmony and discord / Michael J. Balboni and Tracy A. Balboni Approaching spirituality in clinical practice / John R. Peteet, Michael J. Balboni, and Michael N. D'Ambra Judaism / Steven C. Schachter and Terry R. Bard Hinduism / Gowri Anandarajah Islam / Areej El-Jawahri Christianity / John R. Knight and Walter Kim Buddhism / Robert Wall Eclectic spirituality / Elizabeth Spencer-Smith Christian Science / Christine J. Driessen Jehovah's Witnesses / Jon Schiller A secular perspective / David C. Ring Ethical considerations and implications for professionalism / Michael J. Balboni ... [et al.] Spiritual care and chaplaincy / Terry R. Bard and Walter Moczynski Teaching and learning at the interface of medicine and spirituality / Marta D. Herschkopf. Explores the role and influence of spirituality in clinical practice, professionalism, and medical education. This title provides insights not only into the needs of patients with various world views but also into how spirituality influences the practice of medicine.