Scanning a moving field: religion and health

This chapter interrogates three prominent forms in which religion is taken seriously for understanding health: 1) Harold Koenig et al.’s scientism, including its influence on recent efforts by Douglas Oman to foreground public health, 2) Ellen Idler et al.’s social determinants approach, and 3) Dorothea Lüddeckens et al.’s critical socio-cultural approach. Viewed together, these three approaches helpfully show what has been achieved in this relatively new field even as the limits of each direct our gaze to the critical questions needed to guide inquiry in the field of religion and health going forward. The conclusion identifies the ecological as an underappreciated dimension in current framings of religion and health, despite the abundant discursive resources and practical tools in the distinct fields of religious studies and public health.