Predicaments in Researching Spirituality and Religion: A Response to Glicksman's “Contemporary Study of Religion and Spirituality Among the Elderly”

摘要

Glicksman's perceptive critique calls attention to significant recurrent issues in the study of religion and spirituality that point to the need for humility by all who engage in it. Among these issues are implicit questions: What is spirituality? Is it a universal feature of humanity even though its manifestations are very diverse? How do researchers' assumptions and answers to those questions affect the methodologies they use to study religion and spirituality? Is theology relevant? Examples of overlapping scriptures of Judaism and evangelical Protestantism show how easily theological doctrines and philosophical values are misinterpreted by outsiders and how important they are for understanding the faith-related behavior of any group of people. Multidisciplinary research on the spirituality of people from all religions and none, global comparisons of the results, and painstaking analyses of the findings can bring us closer to comprehending the mysteries of spirituality and using them for the benefit of humanity.