Developments in Spiritual Care of the Dying
- 31 October 1996
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Religion
- Vol. 26 (4), 353-363
- https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.1996.0029
Abstract
Care of the dying is likely to be a useful indicator of trends in Christianity, a religion which for centuries has been deeply concerned with the problem of death. The article identifies three approaches to the spiritual dimension in contemporary terminal care—a religious approach, an ecclesiastical approach and an approach that identifies the spiritual as the search for meaning. Though the ecclesiastical approach dominates practice, the ‘meaning’ approach is becoming fashionable and represents a highly individualized, postmodern variety of religion with similarities to the New Age—a surprising conjunction in those hospices with a Christian foundation.Keywords
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