A new handbook totaling 35 chapters seeks to explore the intersection of health, healing, and the human experience of illness through the lens of religion and spirituality.
The Routledge Handbook of Spirituality, Religion and the Medical Humanities was edited by Kristy Slominski, Adam Powell and Christopher Cook.
Slominski teaches at the University of Arizona, where she specializes in the interactions of religions, science, and health in U.S. history as well as the relationship between U.S. religions and sexuality, with a focus on sexual health education. Her department offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Religious Studies for Health Professionals, which includes courses on religion and health, religion and science, religion and sexuality and world religions.
Powell is an assistant professor in Medical Humanities at Durham University in the U.K. Much of his work combines sociology, psychology and the history of religions in investigating individual and group responses to conflict, trauma and extraordinary perceptional experiences. His research has recently centered on spiritual experiences in relation to mental health.
Cook is an emeritus professor of Theology and Religion at Durham University. He was the director of the Centre for Spirituality, Theology & Health until his retirement in 2022. Over the course of his academic career, he has explored issues of psychiatry and spirituality, including an emphasis on alcohol addiction. In 2020 he gave a Boyle Lecture on mental health and the Gospel.
The handbook includes work on spiritual approaches to end-of-life care and the presence of disease and illness in the New Testament.
Susan is an author with a long-time interest in religion and science. She currently edits Covalence, the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technology’s online magazine. She has written articles in The Lutheran and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science newsletter. Susan is a board member for the Center for Advanced Study of Religion and Science, the supporting organization for the Zygon Center and the Zygon Journal. She also co-wrote Our Bodies Are Selves with Dr. Philip Hefner and Dr. Ann Pederson.
