Transforming Neglect & Hostility to Engagement & Hospitality: An Interdisciplinary Foundation for a Future Program on Religion, Health & Medicine

This project addresses the extant separation of religion and healthcare, and its sequelae, such as the marginalization of patient spirituality (despite evidence of the import of patient spirituality to well-being and medical decisions) and exorbitant healthcare expenditures at the end of life related to a dominant focus on the body. By engaging Harvard Divinity School (HDS), Medical School (HMS), and School of Public Health in themes related to religion and medicine, the project activities will engender the necessary institutional momentum and practical steps to launch the Harvard Program on Health, Religion, and Spirituality (HPHRM) in 2015. The project’s four activities are: 1) two scholarly, interdisciplinary books published by Oxford University Press that examine the complex relationship of spirituality and medicine; 2) implementing an HDS/HMS lecture series on religion/spirituality and medicine; 3) developing an elective track on spirituality and healthcare for Harvard medical trainees; and 4) creating an advisory council to strategize the HPHRM ‘s establishment and financing. The correlating outputs include: 1) two books published by Oxford (both books under contract); 2) an HDS/HMS lecture series consisting of 6 scholars delivering 18 lectures; 3) development of an elective track based on qualitative research (yielding 2 peer-reviewed papers) and a significant grant proposal that advances the spiritual formation of tomorrow’s healers; and 4) an advisory council of six senior Harvard faculty and three Boston philanthropists meeting 2-3 times to strategize HPRHM’s implementation and financing. By harnessing the academic energy created by its activities and engaging institutional and community champions, this project will launch a program in 2015 that will have an enduring impact by stimulating novel, interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of religion and healthcare.