This volume addresses an important problem in social scientific research on global religions and spirituality: How to evaluate the role of diverse religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs and practices within the rapid evolution of spiritual globalization and diversification trends. The book examines this question by bringing together a panel of international scholars including psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in religious studies, public health, medicine, and social work. The content includes chapters describing innovative concepts of post-Christian spirituality, Eastern forms of meditation, afterlife beliefs associated with the three dominant cultural legacies, various non-religious worldviews, spiritual Jihad, and secular and religious reverence. The book also covers such important themes as spiritual well-being, faith, struggle, meaning making, modeling, and support, as well as mysticism and using prayer to cope with existential crises. This book advancesthe understanding of the role of R/S across different faiths and cultural systems, including both Western and non-Western ones, and enriches the mainstream of psychological sciences and practices. It appeals to students, educators, researchers, and clinicians in multiple related fields and disciplines.
This volume addresses an important problem in social scientific research on global religions and spirituality: How to evaluate the role of diverse religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs and practices within the rapid evolution of spiritual globalization and diversification trends. The book examines this question by bringing together a panel of international scholars including psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in religious studies, public health, medicine, and social work. The content includes chapters describing innovative concepts of post-Christian spirituality, Eastern forms of meditation, afterlife beliefs associated with the three dominant cultural legacies, various non-religious worldviews, spiritual Jihad, and secular and religious reverence. The book also covers such important themes as spiritual well-being, faith, struggle, meaning making, modeling, and support, as well as mysticism and using prayer to cope with existential crises. This book advances theunderstanding of the role of R/S across different faiths and cultural systems, including both Western and non-Western ones, and enriches the mainstream of psychological sciences and practices. It appeals to students, educators, researchers, and clinicians in multiple related fields and disciplines.
Amy L. Ai
Assessing spirituality Assessing religion Diversified world Beyond the mainstream perspective Measures of religiosity and religiousness Measures of spirituality Multicultural assessment Multicultural measurement Multicultural scales Diverse measurement Soul Scale and Prediction for Psychological Wellbeing Measurement Invariance Tests for Nonbelievers Bifactor Model for Nonbelievers Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire Spiritual Modeling Self-Efficacy, Stand-Alone (SMSE-SA) scale
“No prior books that I am aware of so comprehensively survey religious assessment outside the mainstream of Western religious traditions and of religious expression. … All by itself, this makes the book indispensable to researchers and practitioners. … Dr. Ai and her co-editors and all the contributors are to be congratulated for a generational contribution, one that deserves to be the first (if not last) word on this subject for years to come.” (Jeff Levin, Journal of Religion and Health, June 3, 2021)