This open access volume is the first academic book on the controversial issue of including spiritual care in integrated electronic medical records (EMR). Based on an international study group comprising researchers from Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland), the United States, Canada, and Australia, this edited collection provides an overview of different charting practices and experiences in various countries and healthcare contexts. Encompassing case studies and analyses of theological, ethical, legal, healthcare policy, and practical issues, the volume is a groundbreaking reference for future discussion, research, and strategic planning for inter- or multi-faith healthcare chaplains and other spiritual care providers involved in the new field of documenting spiritual care in EMR.

Topics explored among the chapters include:

·        Spiritual Care Charting/Documenting/Recording/Assessment

·        Charting Spiritual Care: Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Aspects           

·        Palliative Chaplain Spiritual Assessment Progress Notes                 

·        Charting Spiritual Care: Ethical Perspectives            

·        Charting Spiritual Care in Digital Health: Analyses and Perspectives

Charting Spiritual Care: The Emerging Role of Chaplaincy Records in Global Health Care is an essential resource for researchers in interprofessional spiritual care and healthcare chaplaincy, healthcare chaplains and other spiritual caregivers (nurses, physicians, psychologists, etc.), practical theologians and health ethicists, and church and denominational representatives. 

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A large part of the global workforce is said to be Christians, but what does it mean to be a Christian at work? This study offers a review of relevant research from management and organisation studies as well as from theology; it reports on fieldwork among business managers in Switzerland and proposes an embodiment perspective on Christians at work. The author identifies difficulties relating to the predominant uses of terms such as faith, spirituality and religion at work, and argues for the importance of taking Christians’ framing practices and bodily forms of existence into account. By participating in a bodily form in Christ’s death and resurrection, and by thus practising Christ’s body, Christians find themselves located at an existential nerve centre for carrying out work activities. This study shows how the notion of ‘Christians’ can open up conceptual space for relevant organisational, managerial, sociological, ethical and theological aspects concerning contemporary work settings. 

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Exploring faith-based organizations (FBOs) in current developmental discourses and practice, this book presents a selection of empirical in-depth case-studies of Christian FBOs and assesses the vital role credited to FBOs in current discourses on development.

Examining the engagement of FBOs with contemporary politics of development, the contributions stress the agency of FBOs in diverse contexts of development policy, both local and global. It is emphasised that FBOs constitute boundary agents and developmental entrepreneurs: they move between different discursive fields such as national and international development discourses, theological discourses, and their specific religious constituencies. By combining influxes from these different contexts, FBOs generate unique perspectives on development: they express alternative views on development and stress particular approaches anchored in their theological social ethics.

This book should be of interest to those researching FBOs and their interaction with international organizations, and to scholars working in the broader areas of religion and politics and politics and development. 

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This open access book seeks to foster a multidisciplinary understanding of the ties between faith, financial intermediation, and economic progress by drawing on research across economics, finance, history, philosophy, ethics, theology, public policy, law, and other disciplines. Chapters in this edited volume examine themes as consequential as economic opportunities, real world outcomes and faith; values and consumerism; faith, financial intermediation and economic development in Western and Islamic societies; and the impact of faith issues on US workers, on the workplace and religion, and on the characteristics of good wealth. Though engaging with difficult questions, this book is written in an accessible style to be enjoyed by laypeople and scholars alike.

Table of contents:

Introduction

Christian Faith and Economics

Biblical Stewardship and Economic Progress

Rationality and Alienation: Themes from Gandhi

Consumerism in Contemporary China

Anglican Christians and Modern Political Economy

Islamic Finance, Consumer Protection and Public Policy

Christianity and Inequality in the Modern United States

Faith and Work: Brave New World?

The Moral Ecology of Good Wealth

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The concept ‘human life’ and what it entails have become a prominent idea in current theological-ethical discourses, especially in the growing Christian reflection on bioethics, eco-ethics, and social justice. Contemporary Christian ethicists focus on concepts such as ‘flourishing life’, ‘happiness’ and ‘joy’, and the means in which these deep human desires can be realised and fulfilled in life today amidst perennial surges of racism, xenophobia, sexism, systemic violence and policies and structures which further poverty and other forms of social injustices. Christian soteriology, and subsequent moral agency, grapples with the question: How can humans flourish in societies today and how should Christian morality be defined and designed to be instrumental in the current pursuit of happiness, joy and hope? This publication aims to participate in this modern-day discourse by proposing relevant theological perspectives on the concept of life and, in particular, its relevance for Christians living in this age and in an environment that poses major challenges to public morality and the common good. In conjunction with the emerging theological interest in the concept of life, this project is a modest attempt to take part in the advancement of an ethic of life for today, under the rubric of an ethic of flourishing personhood. The point of departure is the biblical concept of the gift of life and what this gift entails for the understanding human life, personhood and moral agency today. The line of reasoning in this book delineates the broad concept ethic of life and the biblical concept gift of life, and draws the line towards an ethic of flourishing personhood. The central theoretical argument of the study is that reformed theology can give direction to the contemporary theological search for meaning and purpose of human life and offer answers to the questions on life facing humanity today, especially by pursuing the idea of flourishing personhood. 

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This volume is a collection of scientific articles from the European Conferences of Religion, Spirituality and Health in 2014 (Malta) and 2016 (Gdansk). The overall theme is “Integrating Religion and Spirituality into Clinical Practice”.

Studies are grouped under four main topics:

1. Religion and Spirituality in Patient Care,

2. Spirituality in Physical and Mental Disease,

3. Health Care Professionals and Spirituality, and

4. Faith-Based Services and Programs in Health Care.

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Practical theology has outgrown its traditional pastoral paradigm. The articles in this handbook recognize that faith, spirituality, and lived religion, within and beyond institutional communities, refer to realms of cultures, ritual practices, and symbolic orders, whose boundaries are not clearly defined and whose contents are shifting. The International Handbook of Practical Theology offers insightful transcultural conceptions of religion and religious matters gathered from various cultures and traditions of faith.

The first section presents ‘concepts of religion’. Chapters have to do with considerations of the conceptualizing of religion in the fields of ‘anthropology’, ‘community’, ‘family’, ‘institution’, ‘law’, ‘media’, and ‘politics’ among others. 

The second section is dedicated to case studies of ‘religious practices’ from the perspective of their actors. 

The third section presents major theoretical discourses that explore the globally significant diversity and multiplicity of religion.

Altogether, sixty-one authors from different parts of the world encourage a rethinking of religious practice in an expanded, transcultural, globalized, and postcolonial world. 

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The aim of this book is to provide a way to do justice to an African language of faith. In systematic theology, anthropology and philosophy of religion, similar debates about how to interpret an African language of faith are ongoing. Trying to avoid the ‘othering’ discourses of past generations, scholars are careful to take seriously what people in Africa say without portraying people’s beliefs as weird or backward. Yet, in their desperate attempts to avoid othering, these theologians, anthropologists and philosophers often painfully misconstrue the language of faith in Africa. Understanding the language of faith in Southern Africa is not an easy task. How should we take seriously the form of language that often seems so strange and different? 

I argue that, after African inculturation theology and black liberation theology, a better way to make sense of being a Christian in Southern Africa is to pay close attention to people’s language of faith. The way in which people speak of the spirit world or powers in Africa appears strange to outsiders, and the sense of community and the holistic worldview differentiates the African way of life from its Euro-American counterparts. When proper attention is paid to the use of concepts like spirit world, power, community and holism, language of faith in Southern Africa is neither as strange as it may seem, nor as romantic. By investigating these distinguishing concepts that colour language of faith in Southern Africa, this book contributes to future projects of both fellow theologians who try to construct a contemporary African theology and those who are interested in theology in Africa given the well-known southward shift of the centre of gravity of Christianity.

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This reprint discusses the relation between nonviolence and religion by adopting Mohandas K. Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha as a starting point and by also discussing nonviolent hermeneutics of holy scriptures with a special emphasis on interpretations of the Qur’an. 

The first part consists of chapters that directly deal with Gandhi’s concept of nonviolence and how it influenced later faith-based peace activists. By reading Gandhi’s active nonviolence through the lens of Judith Butler’s recent work on nonviolence, it engages with contemporary discussions about violence and nonviolence and also reflects on how nonviolence relates to gender. It also looks at how Gandhi related to different religions and further broadens the usual focus on physical violence by addressing economic violence and environmental degradation. Gandhi’s view of Judaism and Zionism is critically discussed in one chapter. 

The second part comprises contributions that study the use of holy scriptures in relation to (non)violence, its problems, its boundaries and its inspiration. Religious authoritative texts play a major role in the continuation and legitimation of connected belief systems. Again, Gandhi’s own nonviolent hermeneutics of holy scriptures are investigated and his interpretation of the biblical figure of Daniel is especially discussed. Three contributions deal with the interpretation of the Qur’an and its potential for nonviolence. A concluding chapter provides a range of hermeneutic guidelines for an Islamic theology of nonviolence. 

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This progressive volume furthers the inter-religious, international, and interdisciplinary understanding of the role of religion in the area of human rights.

Building bridges between the often-separated spheres of academics, policymakers, and practitioners, it draws on the expertise of its authors alongside historical and contemporary examples of how religion's role in human rights manifests. At the core of the book are four case studies, dealing with Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Authors from each religion show the positive potential that their faith and its respective traditions has for the promotion of human rights, while also addressing why and how it stands in the way of fulfilling this potential.

Addressed to policymakers, academics, and practitioners worldwide, this engaging and accessible volume provides pragmatic studies on how religious and secular actors can cooperate and contribute to policies that improve global human rights.

Contents page (summary):

Part I -  Summary

• Ch. 1 -  Summary of Recommendations for Secular and Religious Actors

Part II -  Why Religion Matters

• Ch. 2 -  Introduction

Part III - Religion and Human Rights:  Problems

• Ch. 3.1 -  Orientation: How and Why Religion Resists the Idea of Human Rights

• Ch. 3.2 -  Hindu Perspective: Human Rights of Women and the Notion of “Pollution” in Hinduism

• Ch. 3.3 -  Jewish Perspective: Jewish Exclusionist Theology in Israel

• Ch. 3.4 -  Christian Perspective: The Appeal to Traditional Values as an Argument against Human Rights

• Ch. 3.5 -  Islamic and Iranian Perspectives on Human Rights: Problems

Part IV -  Religion and Human Rights:  Potentials

• Ch. 4.1 -  Orientation: How Religion Can Contribute to Human Rights

• Ch. 4.2 -  Hindu Perspective: Women and Democratic Ideals in Hinduism: A Case Study of Women's Entrance to Sabarimala Temple 

• Ch. 4.3 -  Jewish Perspective: Challenging Jewish Religious Exclusionist Praxis

• Ch. 4.4 -  Christian Perspective: Jesus Christ the Liberator

• Ch. 4.5 -  Islamic and Iranian Perspectives on Human Rights: Potentials

Part V -  Now What?   Implications and Recommendations

• Ch. 5 -  Now What? Recommendations for Building Cooperation between Secular and Religious Actors

Reviews:

"Routledge's OA series Religion Matters gets right to the heart of our humanities program by promoting rigorous thinking and challenging readers to contribute to the ongoing conversation of humankind around things that matter to us – in this case religion, and the vast role it plays in any number of intersecting global issues. Topical, interdisciplinary, and accessible.”

-- Catherine Bernard, Global Editorial Director (Humanities and Media Arts) at Routledge.

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There is a great need for healing in Africa. This need is in itself no different elsewhere in the world, but it is greatly determined by the involvement of religious communities and traditions. Faith communities and religious institutions play a major role in assisting African believers to find health, healing and completeness in everyday life. 

Contents page (summary):

Acknowledgements

Introduction

• Ch. 1: The fabric of health in Africa

• Ch. 2: African Traditional Healing Discourse

• Ch. 3: Missionary Medicine Discourse

• Ch. 4: Discourse On Hiv/Aids In Africa

• Ch. 5: Church-Based Healing Discourse

• Ch. 6: A Reformed Pneumatological Matrix

• Ch. 7: The Spirit And Relationality

• Ch. 8: The Spirit And Transformation

• Ch. 9: The Spirit And Quality Of Life

• Ch. 10: The Spirit And Power

Conclusion

Gathering Fragments

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[From the Introduction (Inleiding):]

Die persoon en werk van die Heilige Gees is vir die sending van beslissende belang. Nie alleen is die belydenis dat die Heilige Gees waarlik God en een van die Persone van die Drie-eenheid is nie, maar ook is die erkenning van sy  werk  in  die  kerk  tot  saligheid  van  baie  onteenseglik  wonderbaar.  Dit  is  inderdaad  die  Heilige  Gees  wat  die  wedergeboorte  en  bekering  in  mense  werk. Vir die sending is die soteriologiese werk van die Gees van groot belang. Die Heilige Gees as Gees van Christus maak juis die sending moontlik. Dit is die Gees wat die kerk opbou. Dit is die Gees wat Christus verheerlik. Die eenheid van die kerk word deur die Gees beklemtoon en gedra. Die Gees lei die kerk om betrokke te raak by die wêreld. Sending verkry vanuit hierdie werking van die Gees ook nuwe betekenis. Die Heilige Gees stuur daarom die kerk uit om as kerk van Jesus Christus die volheid van die belydenis dat Jesus waarlik die Redder van die wêreld is te verkondig, te bely en uit te dra. 

Die  gedeelte  oor  die  Heilige  Gees  word  opgevolg  deur  ook  na  die  wonder  van die liefde van die Vader te verwys. Die Vader se liefde word juis sigbaar deur die werk van die Heilige Gees in Jesus Christus. Die Vader bepaal deur sy liefde die kerk se werk. Die missionêre werk van die kerk word dus deur die Heilige Gees in Jesus Christus diens aan God die Vader. Die liefde van die Vader vir sondaarmense is dus sentraal in die missionêre teologie. Daarom vul die twee gedeeltes, naamlik dié oor die wonderbare Heilige Gees en dié oor die Vader van liefde mekaar aan. Voorheen is ’n volledige werk oor die missionêre  betekenis  van  die  Christologie  geskryf  naamlik,  Jesus  Christus,  Seun van God, ís ons versoening: ’n Missionêre Christologie. Die huidige werk sluit daarby aan. Daarom word daar ’n Trinitariese missionêre teologie aangebied.

Wie  is  die  Heilige  Gees  en  hoe  moet  sy  werk  verstaan  word?  Moet  die  kosmologiese  werk  van  die  Heilige  Gees  beklemtoon  word  en  kom  dit  so  voor in die Bybel? Wat is die verhouding van die Gees en Christus en hoe moet  hierdie  verhouding  verstaan  word?  Openbaar  die  Gees  sonde  en  hoe  moet daarop gereageer word? Wat is die spesifieke betekenis van belydenis aangaande die Heilige Gees vir die sending? Hoe kom die volheid van die Gees se werking in die kerk tot stand? Die versoening met God is essensieel. Hoe bewerk die Gees juis hierdie versoening? Getuig die Ou en Nuwe Testament van die Persoon en werk van die Heilige Gees? Hoe getuig die Ou Testament oor die Heilige Gees se werk?

Die bedoeling van hierdie werk is om na te speur wat onder die Persoon en die  unieke  werk  van  die  Heilige  Gees  verstaan  word  en  wat  die  betekenis  daarvan  vir  die  sending  is  en  ook  die  wonder  van  die  liefde  van  God,  die  Vader. Die Heilige Gees as Gees van Christus maar ook Persoon in die Drie-eenheid  is  van  essensiële  belang  wanneer  oor  die  sending  nagedink  word.  Die werk van die Heilige Gees word dikwels oppervlakkig verstaan wanneer dit in verband met die sending gebring word. Emosionele uitbarstings is nie die wyse waarop die Gees werk nie. Daar sal aangetoon moet word waarom dit nie so verstaan word nie. Die rol van die Heilige Gees in die kerk is ook van groot belang wanneer nagedink word oor die Gees en die sending. Hoe die  Gees  die  kerk  bemagtig  om  juis  in  die  sending  betrokke  te  raak,  is  van  groot belang. Die vraag na die werk van die Heilige Gees buite die kerk is ook van belang vir die sending en moet verreken word. Is daar ook sprake van die  kosmologiese  werk  van  die  Heilige  Gees?  Deurgaans  sal  begrippe  soos  sending,  bekering,  wedergeboorte,  soteriologie  en  die  kosmologiese  werk  van  die  Gees  hanteer  word.  Om  dit  te  doen,  sal  met  gespreksgenote,  veral  diegene uit die gereformeerde teologiese wêreld, gesprek gevoer word (kyk veral na Hoofstuk 4).

In  die  Nuwe  Testament  word  die  Gees  se  diepe  verhouding  met  Christus  duidelik. Dit is dus noodsaaklik om na te gaan hoedat die Heilige Gees Christus verheerlik. Daardie noue verband moet nagespoor word om te bepaal of die Gees  ook  buite  die  kerk  werk.  Is  daar  sprake  van  die  Gees  se  werking  in  ander godsdienste as die Gees die Gees van Christus is en hoedanig is daardie werking? Kan daar aangedui word dat die Gees ook heilbrengend werk ook in ander godsdienste? Die eenheid van die Heilige Gees en Christus is in die opsig van groot belang. Die vraag is egter of dit insluit of uitsluit. Hiermee word vrae aan die orde gestel wat van groot belang vir die sending is.

Wat is die rol van die Heilige Gees in die eskatologie? Hierdie saak verdien ook besondere aandag. Berei die Gees slegs voor vir die ewigheid of is die Gees ook aktief werksaam in die koms van Christus? Hier sal ook verstaan moet word dat die begrip ‘ewigheid’ verskillend verstaan word. Gerealiseerde eskatologie sluit reeds aspekte van die heil in, maar daar moet ook ’n toekomstige aspek beklemtoon word. Die hier-en-nou is nie die finale antwoord nie.

Die benadering wat hier gevolg word om die Persoon en werk van die Heilige Gees  én  die  Vader  vir  die  sending  te  bepaal,  is  ’n  teksgerigte  benadering.  Daar moet erken word dat verskeie benaderings wel die pneumatologie ook vanuit die ervaring hanteer, maar hier word die Bybelteks in al sy verbande as uitgangspunt geneem. Wanneer die algemene openbaring in ag geneem word, sal daar sekere ruimer aspekte wees wat hanteer moet word, maar alyd in die lig van die besondere Openbaring. Die teks word hoog geag. Daar is die gevaar om tekste aaneen te ryg, sonder om hul spesifieke betekenis binne die bepaalde verband waar dit voorkom in ag te neem. Die eksegetiese benadering is  egter  dat  die  teks  altyd  teen  die  agtergrond  van  die  tyd  waarbinne  dit  ontstaan het, ontleed moet word. Dit sal wel aanvaarbaar wees om na enkele tekste  te  verwys  indien  dit  steeds  vanuit  die  bepaalde  agtergrond  en  genre  beoordeel word deur ook na kommentare, Bybelse teologieë en sistematiese teologieë te verwys. Hier word veral beklemtoon dat die Heilige Gees juis die Skrif inspireer het sodat die Sola Scriptura-erkenning van essensiële belang is.

Contents page:

• Opgedra

• Oor die skrywer

• Aanbeveling

• Voorwoord

1. Inleiding

2. Die Sending

3. Die Heilige Gees as Voorspraak

4. Die Heilige Gees as die Gees van Openbaring, Gees van die Lewe en die Kosmologiese Werk van die Gees

5. Die Eenheid tussen Vader, Seun en Heilige Gees

6. Die Werking van die Heilige Gees

7. Die Heilige Gees en die Kerk

8. Die Nuwe Bedeling van Vryspraak deur die Seun is die Tyd van die Gees

9. Die Heilige Gees en die Sending: ’n Heerlike Waarheid

10. God die Vader

11. Die Ons Vader-gebed

12. Die Liefde van die Vader

13. Die Verbond. God as Vader van die Heil

14. Verheerliking van en Diens aan die Vader

15. Sorg van God die Vader

16. Die Vader van die Gekruisigde en Opgestane Here

17. Die Wil van die Vader in Kruisgebeure

18. Vader, Seun en Heilige Gees

19. Geloof en die Vader

20. Die Teenwoordigheid van die Vader in die Sakramente

21. Die Vader en die Oordeel

22. Die Vader van Vergifnis en Ewige Lewe in Jesus Christus

23. God die Vader, Liefde, die Heilige Gees en die Sending

• Bibliografie

• Indeks

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Reviews:

• "Pieter Verster dra uit die ryk en ryp oesland van die Ou en Nuwe Testament ’n oorvloed gerwe. ’n Uitnemende geleerde is hier aan die woord. Die Persoon en werk van die Heilige Gees, die derde Persoon van God Drie-enig, word vars en nuut belig. Dit geld ook vir die skywer se ander sentrale teologiese insigte. Die boek getuig van ’n gedeë studie; dit is ’n meesterstuk. Dit sal nie slegs die vakkenner boei nie, maar elke leser sal deur die boek tot helderheid gelei word. Hierdie boek is soos ’n fontein helder murmelende water wat hoop aan dorstige en moedelose mense gee wat in die greep van armoede, korrupsie en rassisme vasgevang is. Met die boek staan Pieter Verster nie slegs nasionaal nie, maar ook internasionaal op die voorpunt van liggewende perspektiewe op die wese van en uitdagings aan die Missionêre Teologie." -- Prof. Cas Vos

• "Hierdie boek van Pieter Verster gee ’n indrukwekkende perspektief. Sending gaan daaroor om die blye boodskap te bring van Christus wat vir ons gekruisig is. Ons het ’n boodskap vir hierdie wêreld van COVID-19, van die korrupte politiek, van die armoede, van die misdaad, van sondige en moedelose mense. God beloof nie dat alles reg sal kom nie. Hy het hierdie werklikheid tot op die afskuwelikste gedeel. En Hy het daaraan, aan die konkrete werklikheid van Suid-Afrika van 2020, gesterf. Maar Hy het opgestaan, nie om nou alles reg te maak nie, maar sodat ons as ons sterf aan hierdie onheil steeds mag bely dat ons met Christus sal opstaan. Wanneer ons geen voortgang sien nie, moet ons nie moedeloos word nie: in die wêreld kan ons net ’n bietjie vir mekaar doen en het ons verdrukking, maar Hy het die wêreld oorwin: Christus leef en ons sal saam met Hom leef. Dis evangelie, ’n blye berig vir moedelose en hooplose mense." -- Prof. Bram van de Beek

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Workplace spirituality is an emerging field of study and practice and this book asks the questions: Where have we been in the last ten years as a field and where should we be headed in the next ten years? The editors asked these questions of thought leaders from around the globe, leaders who represent different sectors, faith traditions, worldviews and organizational functions.

This volume represents the best of current thinking about the state of the field of workplace spirituality and of what the future holds. There are four themes: (1) management themes such as leadership, ethics, change management, and diversity; (2) workplace spirituality in sectors such as health and wellbeing, policing and creative industries, (3) key issues that are emerging, such as self-spirituality, mindfulness, storytelling and the importance of nature, and (4) cutting edge epistemologies and methodologies including indigenous studies, relational ontology, ethnography, and psychodynamics. These articles were chosen to provoke new thinking, new research, and new practice in the field of workplace spirituality, with the goal of helping the field mature in the next decade.

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