Psychology of Religion and Workplace Spirituality


Book Description

This book, the first of a groundbreaking series, provides a solid theoretical and empirical grounding from the psychology of religion and spirituality to the emerging field of workplace spirituality. Leading researchers in the psychology of religion have contributed up-to-date reviews within their areas of expertise to help guide the emergence of this exciting new discipline. Each chapter is written with the workplace researcher in mind. Not only is the relevant literature from the psychology of religion reviewed, but it is also made relevant to the workplace setting. The religious and spiritual aspects of such topics as meaning making, emotional resilience, sense of calling, coping with stress, occupational health and well-being, and leadership, among others are discussed within the context of work life. Surely researchers interested in workplace spirituality will keep this book, as well as others in the series, within arm’s reach for years to come.




Workplace Spirituality


Book Description

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.




Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality


Book Description

Over a century ago, psychologists who were fascinated with religion began to study and write about it. Theologians and religious practitioners have responded to this literature, producing a fascinating dialogue that deals with our fundamental und- standings about the human person and our place in the world. This book provides an introduction to the important conversations that have developed out of these interchanges. The dialogue between psychology and religion is difficult to study for a number of reasons. First, it requires knowledge of both psychology and religion. People with a background in psychology often lack a solid understanding of the religious traditions they wish to study, and theologians may not be up to date on the latest developments in psychology. Second, it requires conceptual tools to organize the material and understand the basic problems involved in any attempt to connect the science of psychology with religion. These concepts can be found in many places, for instance in the writings of philosophers of science, but they are complex and often hard to follow for those without a proper theological and philosophical ba- ground. Finally, authors who write on the topic come to the study of psychology and religion from a variety of academic and personal backgrounds. This makes for wonderful diversity in conversations, but it makes understanding and mastery of the material quite difficult.




Faith and Work


Book Description

Those who adhere to a faith tradition are longing for theories and insights into how they can be true to their faith within the workplace and yet be sensitive and respectful to others of varying faith commitments and beliefs. Yet for Christians, respect of other faith traditions is especially difficult since Christianity as the dominate religion has become secularized and institutionalized within the workplace as represented in holidays and days off. Within the multiple theoretical and research dimensions of management, religion and spirituality, this book explores theoretical, conceptual and strategic theories and research which consider how individuals and organizations integrate their Christian faith in the workplace, and how these groups attempt to change society as a whole. This historical movement is characterized by a desire for people to live a holistic life which integrates their Christian faith into the workplace, also deemed “faith at work”. Historically, Christian’s faith integration is manifested individually or collectively and is demonstrated in the ways it shapes and informs the values systems, ethics, character and attitudes towards work. This edited volume draws themes out of the three historical epochs of the faith and work movement traced by Miller (2007) in the book, God at work: The history and promise of the faith at work movement. These organizing themes, while not congruent to the historical epochs, do capture the ways in which people of faith have historically attempted to integrate their faith into the workplace. These themes include: Individual integration, organizational strategies for integration and societal integration.




Psychology, Religion and Spirituality


Book Description

At a time when religious fundamentalism is having a huge impact upon the world, this book helps us to understand how people acquire, conceptualise and practise religion at both personal and social levels. At a time when religious fundamentalism is having a huge impact upon the world, this book helps us to understand how people acquire, conceptualise and practise religion at both personal and social levels. Explores religion both as a social phenomenon and as a form of inner experience. Explains why people believe what they do. Looks at the effects of religious and spiritual belief upon behaviour, and upon physical and psychological health. Outlines the various approaches to religious and spiritual experience. Surveys all relevant research.




Handbook of Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace


Book Description

While the field of management has developed as a research discipline over the last century, until the early 1990s there was essentially no acknowledgement that the human spirit plays an important role in the workplace. Over the past twenty years, the tide has begun to turn, as evidenced by the growing number of courses in academia and in corporate training, and an exponential increase in the publications emerging through creative interaction of scholars and practitioners in organizational behaviour, workplace diversity, sustainability, innovation, corporate governance, leadership, and corporate wellness, as well as contributions by psychotherapists, theologians, anthropologists, educators, philosophers, and artists. This Handbook is the most comprehensive collection to date of essays by the preeminent researchers and practitioners in faith and spirituality in the workplace, featuring not only the most current research and case examples, but visions of what will be, or should be, emerging over the horizon. It includes essays by the people who helped to pioneer the field as well as essays by up and coming young scholars. Among the questions and issues addressed: · What does it mean to be a “spiritual” organization? How does this perspective challenge traditional approaches to the firm as a purely rational, profit-maximizing enterprise? · Is faith and spirituality in the workplace a passing fad, or is there a substantial shift occurring in the business paradigm? · How does this field inform emerging management disciplines such as sustainability, diversity, and social responsibility? · In what ways are faith and spirituality in the workplace similar to progressive and innovative human resource practices. Does faith and spirituality in the workplace bring something additional to the conversation, and if so, what? The aim of The Handbook of Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace is to provide researchers, faculty, students, and practitioners with a broad overview of the field from a research perspective, while keeping an eye on building a bridge between scholarship and practice.




Religion, Spirituality, and Positive Psychology


Book Description

A multidisciplinary team of scholars shows how spiritual and religious practices actually do power psychological, physical, and social benefits, producing stronger individuals and healthier societies. In recent years, scholars from an array of disciplines applied cutting-edge research techniques to determining the effects of faith. Religion, Spirituality, and Positive Psychology: Understanding the Psychological Fruits of Faith brings those scholars together to share what they learned. Through their thoughtful, evidence-based reflections, this insightful book demonstrates the positive benefits of spiritual and religious engagement, both for individual practitioners and for society as a whole. The book covers Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other major traditions across culture in two sections. The first focuses on ways in which religious and spiritual engagement improves psychological and behavioral health. The second highlights the application of this knowledge to physical, psychological, and social problems. Each chapter focuses on a spiritual "fruit," among them humility, hope, tolerance, gratitude, forgiveness, better health, and recovery from disease or addiction, explaining how the fruit is "planted" and why faith helps it flourish.




The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality


Book Description

The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality: From the Inside Out, by Timothy Sisemore, provides and introduction to the field of the psychology of religion and spirituality utilizing a mixed method approach allowing persons of faith (and one who is an atheist) to give voice to their experience to supplement the quantitative research that has been done in the field. This text honors the value of religion and spirituality in the lives of the majority of humans while acknowledging the weakness and problems that come with faith as well.




Spirituality and Psychological Health


Book Description

Spirituality and Psychological Health examines the relationship between spirituality, religion, and psychological health. Several different psychological approached are presented in this volume. Topics include developmental issues, divesity issues, and training issues.




Spirituality, Corporate Culture, and American Business


Book Description

By the early twenty-first century, Americans had embraced a holistic vision of work, that one's job should be imbued with meaning and purpose, that business should serve not only stockholders but also the common good, and that, for many, should attend to the “spiritual” health of individuals and society alike. While many voices celebrate efforts to introduce “spirituality in the workplace” as a recent innovation that holds the potential to positively transform business and the American workplace, James Dennis LoRusso argues that workplace spirituality is in fact more closely aligned with neoliberal ideologies that serve the interests of private wealth and undermine the power of working people. LoRusso traces how this new moral language of business emerged as part of the larger shift away from the post-New Deal welfare state towards today's global market-oriented social order. Building on other studies that emphasize the link between American religious conservatism and the rise of global capitalism, LoRusso shows how progressive “spirituality” remains a vital part of this story as well. Drawing on cultural history as well as case studies from New York City and San Francisco of businesses and leading advocates of workplace spirituality, this book argues that religion reveals much about work, corporate culture, and business in contemporary America.