A Theological Assessment of Spiritual Assessments

Spiritual care within secular, pluralistic health care settings cannot be separated from particular theological claims. This claim is based on four arguments: (1) Practical-clinical questions concerning the role of spirituality and religion in healthcare are laden theological debates. (2) All spirit...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Balboni, Michael J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Oxford University Press 2013
In: Christian bioethics
Year: 2013, Volume: 19, Issue: 3, Pages: 313-331
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Spiritual care within secular, pluralistic health care settings cannot be separated from particular theological claims. This claim is based on four arguments: (1) Practical-clinical questions concerning the role of spirituality and religion in healthcare are laden theological debates. (2) All spiritual assessments, including narrative-based methods and functional assessment tools, have embedded theological norms that fail to solve pluralism. (3) Future models of spiritual assessment and care can be constructively developed based on a correlation between contemporary health care settings and substantive Christian approaches. (4) Questions about how to practically provide spiritual care must also include theological evaluation of secular medicine. Consequently, spiritual assessment requires particular, tradition-mediated understandings. Future spiritual care models must simultaneously balance the irreducible pluralism of health care, the inescapable particularity of the theological traditions guiding our institutions and social systems, and the overwhelming spiritual needs experienced by patients facing life-threatening illness.
ISSN:1744-4195
Contains:Enthalten in: Christian bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/cb/cbt023