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"Francis X. Meehan has thought long and hard about contemporary social issues. This book shows the gratifying results. It is full of insight and wisdom." - Richard A. McCormick, S.J., Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Christian Ethics, Georgetown University"Francis Meehan appreciates the dilemmas that torment Christians concerned with questions of peace and justice, while he understands the apathy that closes many others in spiritual slumber. Yet he writes not to intensify guilt, but to clarify the understanding of injustice and its sources, and to offer a reasonable course of action. A Contemporary Social Spirituality, then, is a model for preachers and teachers. The book offers opinions; it assesses responsibility fairly, and it recommends an action with clarity, sensitivity, and manifest love. It deserves good study and use." - Mark Heath, O.P. President, Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C."Meehan brings a pastoral touch to a variety of issues: war, the draft, disarmament, economic injustice, abortion, sexuality. This is a book for ordinary Christians and for activists looking for paths to connection and community with their brothers and sisters in the pews." - David O'Brien, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass."Public policy decisions in today's America threaten a complete reversal of traditional Christian values--new programs benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor; human and material resources are squandered on instruments of mass destruction while agencies designed to serve pressing human needs are dismantled for want of funds. Fr. Meehan's urgent call for a new social spirituality comes not a moment too soon." - Gordon C. Zahn, Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts
For much of the twentieth century, professional social work sought to distance itself from its religious origins with the consequence being that the role of spirituality in the lives of service users tended to be sidelined. Yet it is clear that many people begin to explore their spirituality precisely at times when they are trying to make sense of difficult life circumstances or experiences and may come into contact with social workers. In recent years, there has been an increasing understanding that in order to be relevant to the lives of people they work with, social workers need to go beyond their material needs, but there is little understanding of how spirituality can be sensitively incorporated into practice, especially when either practitioners or service users have no religious affiliation or there is no shared religious background. In this pathbreaking volume Beth Crisp offers social workers ideas of beginning conversations in which spiritual values and beliefs may surface, allowing service users to respond from their own framework and to begin to discuss the specific religious or spiritual practices and beliefs which are important to them. She considers spirituality in the context of lived experience, a perspective that she argues breaks down any mystique and suspicion of explicitly religious language by focusing on language and experiences with which most people can identify. Such a framework allows exploration of issues that emerge at different stages in the lifespan, both by persons who are religious and those who do not identify with any formal religion. Most literature on spirituality within social work refers to the elderly, to those who are sick or have been bereaved, yet, as Crisp points out, spirituality is important for people of all ages and not just at seemingly exceptional moments.
Written by two leading authors in the field, Social Work and Spirituality provides a critical engagement with the concept of spirituality and a much needed framework for the integration of spiritual care in mainstream practice. It is fundamental reading for all students of social work theory, ethics and practice.
First published in 1996. Currently there is a strong trend in the metal health professions to look at the whole picture when dealing with clients. Religion and spirituality are now officially accepted as a major portion of this picture. In keeping with this trend this book assesses the role of spiritually oriented assessments and interventions in clinical practice. By providing examples of both spiritual cosmologies and anthropologies, it offers a cross-cultural theoretical orientation and therapeutic rationale for spirituality in clinical settings. The book is an essential resource for social workers, mental health counsels, bereavement specialists, professional clergy, and others in the helping professions.
Jim Wallis, well-known justice advocate and author, has stated that the two great hungers in the world today are for spirituality and social justice. Although social work and related fields have increasingly recognized the importance of addressing spirituality within clinical practice, less attention has been paid to the role of spirituality in promoting social justice or supporting social change within macropractice. The contributions in this edited collection highlight current developments in this area, including emerging conceptual frameworks, practice applications and research findings. Theoretical approaches to understanding the link between spirituality and justice are explored in analyses of alternative models of social justice and justice orientations of major faith traditions. The critical role of spirituality in larger system change is illustrated through exemplars of research on vulnerable populations, community practice, legislative advocacy, development of social movements, and ecological social work. The importance of including content on religion and spirituality in professional curricula is explored through research on students’ attitudes toward spirituality and social advocacy. Noting the resonating themes within all of these contributions, the volume concludes with an overview of emerging principles for spiritual activism. This book aims to stimulate further development in the vital connection between spirituality and social justice. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work.
"This edited collection addresses important theoretical and methodological issues to explore ways of engaging with religion and spirituality when carrying out social science research. Divided into three sections, the book examines the notion of secularism in relation to contemporary Western society, including a focus upon secularisation; explores how the values underpinning social scientific enquiry might serve to marginalise religion and spirituality; and reflects on social science research methodologies when researching religion and spirituality."--BOOK JACKET.
This international volume provides a comprehensive account of contemporary research, new perspectives and cutting-edge issues surrounding religion and spirituality in social work. The introduction introduces key themes and conceptual issues such as understandings of religion and spirituality as well as definitions of social work, which can vary between countries. The main body of the book is divided up into sections on regional perspectives; religious and spiritual traditions; faith-based service provision; religion and spirituality across the lifespan; and social work practice. The final chapter identifies key challenges and opportunities for developing both social work scholarship and practice in this area. Including a wide range of international perspectives from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and the USA, this Handbook succeeds in extending the dominant paradigms and comprises a mix of authors including major names, significant contributors and emerging scholars in the field, as well as leading contributors in other fields of social work who have an interest in religion and spirituality. The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Spirituality and Social Work is an authoritative and comprehensive reference for academics and researchers as well as for organisations and practitioners committed to exploring why, and how, religion and spirituality should be integral to social work practice.
Over the past ten years, the fields of social work and education have grappled separately with definitions of spirituality, ways to integrate spirituality into the classroom, and the rendering of spirituality as a meaningful concept for practitioners, students, and researchers. Social work and education have many commonalities in areas of engagement with children, families, and communities. For the first time, this book brings together these two professional disciplines for interdisciplinary discussions that advance our knowledge in the broad area of “spirituality.” The book’s three sections reflect broad topic areas created to facilitate dialogue between the contributors, all of whom have established expertise in exploring spirituality in education or social work. The first section of the book explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of spirituality in education and social work. Examination of our respective heritages uncovers the religious roots within our professions and reveals a present understanding of spirituality that calls for active engagement in challenging oppression and working toward social justice. The second section shifts the focus to the pedagogical implications of incorporating spirituality into higher-education classrooms. The varied level of acceptance and the tensions that come from including spirituality, implicitly or explicitly, in the programs and coursework in our respective faculties are illuminated by authors in both professions. The final section explores issues related to practising and teaching in the field from a spiritually sensitive perspective.
Spirituality and Social Justice explores how critically informed spirituality can serve as an inspiration and a political force in the quest for social and ecological justice. Writing from various spiritual and religious worldviews, including Indigenous, Islamic, Wicca/Witchcraft, Jewish, Buddhist, and Christian, the authors—practitioners and academics of social work—draw on lived experience, research, and literature to illuminate how relationship with spirit can orient ways of being and acting to build a more just society. In Part One, the authors foreground Indigenous spirituality as resistance and decolonization. Part Two examines the complex ethical and political dimensions of spirituality, including the ecological destruction of the Earth and the influence of contemporary neoliberalism. Lastly, Part Three explores spirituality in teaching and learning contexts, both inside and beyond the classroom. Engaging and well-written, Spirituality and Social Justice challenges the notion that practitioners must put aside their critical spirituality in teaching, learning, healing, and practice. Students, practitioners, and academics of social work and other helping professions will benefit from the unique insights into spirituality and religion and how they inform social justice activism.