Theological Book Review

. . . .one could not ask for a better introduction to this fascinating and inevitably perplexing area.

Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet is the first title published in the Templeton Science and Religion Series, in which scientists from a wide range of fields distill their experience and knowledge into brief tours of their respective specialties. In this, the series’ maiden volume, Dr. Harold G. Koenig provides an overview of the relationship between health care and religion that manages to be comprehensive yet concise, factual yet inspirational, and technical yet easily accessible to nonspecialists and general readers.

For more information on this title and its author, click here.

For nurses and other health care providers, Verna Carson’s and Harold Koenig’s text will provide useful and timely information on the role of spirituality in health care. The book’s 13 contributing authors identify ways in which meeting patients’ spiritual needs is both a form of caring and a way to provide meaning in practice. The editors used a variety of contributors within and outside of nursing, representing a broad range of religious and spiritual experiences. Many of us chose a health care profession in order to provide care and comfort to others, and this book helps the reader address a very important aspect: spiritual care.

For more information on Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice, click here.

Sapp’s three approaches consisted of three recently published books on aging and spirituality, one in which was a Templeton Press publication, Aging in the Church by Neal M. Krause.

Neal Krause says that the purpose of Aging in the Church “is to examine how social relationships that arise in church affect the physical and mental health of older men and women” (p. 3). He accomplishes his goal in this comprehensive yet comprehensible compilation of a great deal of social–scientific research (both his own and that of others) on the role that involvement in Christian congregations plays in various health outcomes among elders. The most empirical of the three books, this one pulls together a wealth of information in one place for researchers interested in its subject, as well as for those who might want to make a case that “going to church is good for you.”

To learn more about Aging in the Church, click here.

Ever since the first edition of Verna Benner Carson’s Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice went out of print, second-hand copies have been highly sought after by practitioners in the field and nursing school faculty who appreciated the comprehensive scope of the seminal work on spirituality and health. In this highly anticipated revised edition, Carson and her co-editor, Harold G. Koenig, have thoroughly revised and updated this classic in the field.

Click here for more information on Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice.

This month’s American Journal of Psychiatry reviews Harold Koenig’s latest book Medicine, Religion, and Health. They say:

It would be difficult to find a more readable précis of religion and medicine than this book. It is an excellent introductory text for courses or seminars on spirituality and health care, and the extensive references and appendix of resources facilitate the use of the volume for those wishing to pursue additional scholarship or who need an authoritative yet accessible guide to the field.

He provides a spirited rebuke of the popular theory that thrift is a bad thing during economic downturns and offers the top five reasons why that theory simply isn’t true.

You can find the article, in its entirety at the website of The Weekly Standard. It’s definitely worth a read.

They discuss Vahle’s motivation for writing the book, Myrtle Fillmore, Charles Fillmore, and more.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

You can read the full text of the article here: Let’s Make it Cool to Save

We’ll have more information on our site about the book as we approach the official publication date (August 2008), but in the meantime, the article will give you a great preview of some of the timely wisdom that will be featured in the book.

Happy reading!