Spiritual Transformation and Healing: Anthropological, Theological, Neuroscientific, and Clinical Perspectives [Hardcover]

Joan D. Koss-Chioino and Philip Hefner's new volume is unique in exploring the meaning of spiritual transformation and healing with new research from a scientific perspective. An interdisciplinary group of contributors-anthropological, psychological, medical, theological, and biological scientists-investigate the role of religious communities and healing practitioners, with spiritual transformation as their medium of healing. Individual authors evaluate the meaning of spiritual transformations and the consequences for those who experience it; the contributions of indigenous healing systems; new frameworks for neurological and physiological correlates of transformative religious experiences; the support from neuroscience for the radical empathy and intersubjective exchange that takes place in healing practices; and evidence for universal elements of the healing process. This exciting new book will be an invaluable resource for those generally interested in the role of religion in society, across the sciences, social sciences, and all religious traditions. With a foreword by Solomon H. Katz.Joan D. Koss-Chioino is professor emerita of anthropology at Arizona State University. Philip Hefner is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

This excellent book has it all - state of the art studies of spiritual transformation from medicine, anthropology, and neuroscience all ably reflected upon by philosophy and theology and made relevant to care and healing in the clinical situation. A wonderful contribution. Don Browning, University of Chicago, author of Christian Ethics and the Moral Psychologies

The book that Joan Koss-Chioino and Phillip Hefner put together does a remarkable job of addressing critical questions....This book showcases well how multidisciplinarity can be a critical vehicle. Ethos - Journal Of The Society For Psychological Athropology

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