The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Susan Sered

Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School
Religion, Health, and Healing Initiative

The Religion, Health, and Healing Initiative (RHHI), under the direction of Dr. Susan Sered, was established in September 2000 in order to further cross-cultural studies of the intersections of healing and religion. The impetus for the initiative was the desire to turn rigorous intellectual attention to the many ways in which religious practices, beliefs, and institutions construct, and are constructed by, experiences of illness, health, and healing cross-culturally.

While the RHHI has run its course, other programs dedicated to the study of religion and healing continue exploring this rich aspect of contemporary culture. The Boston Healing Landscape Project, under the direction of Linda Barnes, is an important source of information on religion and healing in Boston, especially in African Diaspora communities.

During its four year course, the Religion, Health and Healing Initiative generated several bodies of work.

Religious Healing in Boston: A series of essays exploring ways in which diverse Boston communities draw on religious and spiritual practices and ideas in response to illness and suffering.

Religious and Spiritual Healing Resources in Greater Boston provides samples of the diversity of religious healing found in Boston today. Two appendices list material on religious healing located in the Pluralism Project office, which is available to scholars, chaplains, and other interested individuals, and give an overview of the RHHI Breast Cancer Research Project.

Women Healing Women

Religion and Healing in America is a groundbreaking anthology exploring a wide range of religious healing contexts in the United States. Edited by Linda Barnes and Susan Sered, the anthology is published by Oxford University Press.
Table of Contents

Uninsured: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity is a study of the experiences of Americans who do not have health insurance. Written by Susan Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle, the book will be published in early 2005 by University of California Press.