The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Susan Sered

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

 

Religious Healing in Boston

The essays on this website are the fruits of four years of fieldwork carried out by Harvard students, faculty, and visiting fellows associated with the Religion, Health and Healing Initiative at the Center for the Study of World Religions over a four year period ending in 2004. Highlighting a variety of Boston areas communities, the essays offer windows into the many ways in which members of our society draw upon religious and spiritual resources at times of illness and suffering.

The papers originally appeared in three publications edited by Susan Sered and produced by the Center for the Study of World Religions.

Religious Healing in Boston: First Findings was published in 2001.

Religious Healing in Boston: Reports from the Field was published in 2002.

Religious Healing in Boston: Body, Spirit, Community was published in 2004.

The papers also were presented at a series of symposia held each May during 2001-2004. Many people kindly served as discussants and session chairs at the symposia, and their input was crucial in developing the final formulations of these papers. Particular thanks are due to Lawrence Sullivan, Diana Eck, Linda Barnes, Harvey Cox, Courtney Bender, Gary Anderson, William Graham, Nancy Richardson, and Lowell Livezey.

While the Religion, Health, and Healing Initiative has run its course, much of the material collected by RHHI scholars is still available at the Pluralism Project office. The link “Religious and Spiritual Healing Resources in Greater Boston” lists a sample of the material available at the Pluralism Project office.

Introductions and Overviews: Susan Sered
These three essays originated as Introductions for each of the published volumes. Taken together, Sered’s essays offer theoretical lenses for thinking about ways in which religion and healing converge in our society, and help frame the papers that highlight particular faith traditions.

Religious Healing in Boston (2001)

The Meaning and Politics of Healing (2002)

What Religion Teaches about Healing, and What Healing Teaches about Religion (2004)

Protestant Traditions

Faith Healing, Christian Science and Kindred Phenomena: Religious Healing in Late Nineteenth-Century Boston -- Heather D. Curtis (2001)

Healing Encounters in Two Communities: African American Protestantism and Christian Science -- Kathryn Koliss (2001)

“For Waters Shall Break Forth in the Wilderness”: Healing Generation X at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Cambridge -- Scott Sang-Hyun Lee (2001)

“God Always Heals, But Does Not Always Cure”: The Search for Healing in the Episcopal Church -- Jennifer L. Hollis (2001)

A Silent History: “Quakers” and Healing -- Hillary Mercer (2002)

The Body as Temple: Health and Healing in a Boston Adventist Church -- Josh Burek (2004)

Healing in Muslim Communities

Honey, Hadiths, and Health Day: A Spectrum of Healing in the Daily Life of Boston Muslims -- Amy E. Rowe (2001)

Healing Rituals and the Role of Fatima -- Noor Kassamali (2004)

Immigrant Communities

The Range of Religious Healing Options in the Boston Vietnamese Community -- Nam Nguyen (2001)

Perspectives on Healing in the Ukrainian Community -- Michelle Goldhaber (2002)

Caring in the Diaspora: Filipino Immigrants, Health Care, Healing and Religion -- Maribel Valencia-Castillo (2002)

Healing in Immigrant Communities of the African Diaspora of Boston -- Linda Barnes (2002)

Religious Practices of Haitian People with HIV/AIDS: Why Health Professions Should Care -- Dawn Dorland (2004)

Buddhist Healing and Chinese Healing

Chinese Healing in Boston -- Linda Barnes (2001)

Buddhism, Health and Healing in a Chinese Community -- Hongyu Wu (2002)

Health, Karma, and Practice: Wellbeing and Purification in Tibetan Buddhism -- Christina Deck (2002)

Catholic Healing

Unsung Heroines: Parish Nurses in the Roman Catholic Church -- Sheila McMahon (2001)

Calling in the Specialists: Catholic Saints and Healing in the North End -- Rosemary S. Lloyd (2001)

Hanging Healing on Your Neck: The Catholic Custom of Scapulars -- Sarah Ramer (2001)

Contemplative Continuity: Conceptions of Health in a Trappist Abbey -- Jeffrey DeVido (2002)

Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and Healing in the New Age

With Energy and Spirit: Healers and Their Perspectives on Healing for Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse -- Narelle Bouthillier (2002)

‘Does It Work?’: Holistic Healers and Assessing Breast Cancer Treatment -- Barbara Potrata (2004)

Diversity in the Law of Similars: Mainstream and Alternative Homeopaths in Massachusetts -- Cornelia Cannon Holden (2004)

“Like a Flower in a Snowfield”: Self-Healing in the Dahn Hak Community -- Sharon Kivenko (2004)

Healing in African American Communities

Healing in the African Diaspora Communities of Boston -- Linda Barnes et. al (2001)

Domestic Violence in the African-American Community: The Role of the Church -- Lynda Jordan (2002)

Healing in the Jewish Community

Jewish Healing in Boston -- Susan Sered (2001)

Healing in the Baha’i Faith

“Tests of God”: Suffering and Healing in the Baha’i Faith -- Shreena Gandhi (2002)

The Politics of Healing

Spirituality and the INS: Conceptualizing the Counseling of Detainees -- Avi Spiegel (2002)

The Politics of Visibility: Healing from Homophobia in Faith Communities -- Christine Gindi (2002)

Healing Sites

Lotus Flowers and Rose Windows: A Season of Visits to Hospital Chapels -- Jen Hollis (2002)

Healing Communities: Boston’s Congregations and the Challenges of Healthful Living -- Lowell W. Livezey (2004)