research paper on religion and literature

Religiosity, Spirituality and Work: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions

Review Paper
Published: 10 June 2021
Volume 179 , pages 573–595, ( 2022 )

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research paper on religion and literature

Sandra Leonara Obregon ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7009-8774 1 ,
Luis Felipe Dias Lopes ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2438-0226 1 ,
Fabiola Kaczam ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0460-9927 2 ,
Claudimar Pereira da Veiga 3 &
Wesley Vieira da Silva 4 , 5

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This article presents the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) on religiosity and spirituality, particularly in the work context. We aimed to verify the state-of-the-art of scientific production related to these themes. To achieve the proposed objective, we identified 312 articles published in journals in the period between 1960 and 2018 using a rigourous method of analysis and sorting, which resulted in 52 appropriate studies. The analyses presented are based on the three bibliometric laws: those of (i) Lotka (16:317–323, 1926), (ii) Bradford (137:85–86, 1934) and (iii) Zipf (1949). This article brings contributions that encompass four approaches: (i) measurement scales of spirituality and religiosity; (ii) behavioural benefits of religiosity in individuals; (iii) insertion of religiosity and spirituality in social service practice; and (iv) research directions. This research presents technical and managerial implications to provide theoretical support for the creation of programmes and/or practices of spirituality and religion in the workplace as an effective strategy, towards ethical attitudes. Also, this study contributes to the methodological achievement of SLRs in the field of religion in the workplace, highlighting an effective method for thematic mapping, and holistically identifying new research topics and directions, especially because of the several guidelines presented.

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We are grateful to our Editor Harry Van Buren III and anonymous reviewers for the contributions and recommendations. All comments were constructive, and we believe that our revised manuscript was significantly improved by addressing the comments and suggestions.

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Fabiola Kaczam

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Claudimar Pereira da Veiga

Department of General and Applied Administration, School of Business Administration, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Av. Prefeito Lothário Meissner, 632, Curitiba, 80210-170, Brazil

Wesley Vieira da Silva

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Obregon, S.L., Lopes, L.F.D., Kaczam, F. et al. Religiosity, Spirituality and Work: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions. J Bus Ethics 179 , 573–595 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04856-7

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04856-7

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Romana Huk is currently Editor-in-Chief, having served in that role since 2015. Vittorio Montemaggi is Book Review Editor. Susannah Monta, Jesse Lander, Cyril O'Regan, Sandra Gustafson, Christian Moevs and Henry Weinfield currently sit on its editorial board. Our advisory board includes Felicia Bonaparte, Lori Branch, Steven Frye, Thomas Haddox, Kevin Hart, John McClure, Cleo McNelly Kearns, Barbara Newman, and J. Hillis Miller. R&L's archives and upcoming issues can be found at our website ( https://religionandlit.nd.edu/ ) and older materials can be purchased online at JSTOR. It is indexed in the MLA International Bibliography, ATLA Religion Database, Religion and Theological Abstracts, and other major databases across the world.

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Available issues, table of contents, volume 55, 2023.

Volume 55, Number 1, Spring 2023

Volume 54, 2022

Volume 54, Number 3, Autumn 2022
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Volume 53, 2021

Volume 53, Number 3, Autumn 2021
Volume 53, Number 2, Summer 2021
Vol. 52 Number 3 - Vol. 53 Number 1, Autumn 2020-Spring 2021

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Volume 51, Number 3 - Volume 52, Number 1, Autumn 2019 - Spring 2020

Volume 51, 2019

Volume 51, Number 2, Summer 2019
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Volume 50, 2018

Volume 50, Number 3, Autumn 2018
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Religion and Literature: Outsider, Tradition, and Transcendence

2014, Religion Compass

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Comparative Literature

Michael Allan

This special issue considers the place of religion and secularism in the field of literary study. The authors draw from anthropology, history, philosophy, and law, and all share in a common effort to take the category of religion seriously—not necessarily as a term with a fixed descriptive meaning, but as a category that nonetheless has implications for what we do when we read. The six essays trace the interactions of religion, literature, and secularism at distinct historical moments—ranging from early modern Spain to the nineteenth-century United States and interwar Germany and Palestine. They also chart how literature inflects the sensibilities, behaviors, and attitudes of readers. Spanning regions, languages, and methods, the issue bridges questions about reading secularism with critical reflections on the disciplines undergirding its textual traditions.

Eric Ziolkowski

TARA MC KEON

Religion & Literature, Volume 41, Issue 2

Cleo Kearns

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Colin Jager

"The decade-long surge of interest in secularism and the secular shows no sign of abating. Yet its motivating question are now quite familiar."

Jens Kreinath , Ipsita Chatterjea , David Walker , Ed Silver , Annette Wilke , Birgit Meyer , David Feltmate , S Brent Plate , David Morgan , Deborah A Green

The full program for Aesthetics and the Analytical Study of Religion, #SORAAAD2016, SORAAAD & Arbeitskreis Religionsästhetik 9/9/2016 Update contains suggested readings for J. Sorett and S. Promey. Method and Theory of the Aesthetics of Religion Alexandra Greiser, “Aesthetics of Religion – What It Is, and What It Is Good For” Sally Promey, Respondent Somatic Approaches to the Aesthetics of Religion Jens Kreinath, “Somatics, Body Knowledge, and the Aesthetics of Religion” Rebecca Raphael, “Disability, Aesthetics, and Religious Studies Method” Deborah Green, ““In A Gadda Da Vida” (In the Garden of Eden)” Sound and the Senses in the Aesthetics of Religion Annette Wilke, “Sound Matters: the Case of Hindu India and the Sounding of Sacred Texts. An Applied Aesthetics of Religion” Jason Bivins, “Immersion, Transcription, Assemblage: On Sonic Impermanence and the Study of Religion” Religious Diversity, Collective Cultural Agency, and the Question of Aesthetics Birgit Meyer, “Religious Diversity and the Question of Aesthetics” Josef Sorrett, “The Abiding Powers of AfroProtestantism” David Morgan - Respondent Media and Transmission in the Aesthetics of Religion Jolyon Thomas, “Framing Religious Subjects in an Irreligious Place: Procedural and Ethical Hurdles in Studying the Religion of Japanese Manga and Anime” David Feltmate, “Should I Laugh Now? The Aesthetics of Humor in Mass Media” S. Brent Plate - Respondent

Jeremy Biles

Fieldwork in Religion

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Religion and Literature: History and Method

Religion and literature is the study of interrelationships between religious or theological traditions and literary traditions, both oral and written, with special attention to religious or theological underpinnings of, influences upon, and reflections in, individual “texts” (oral and written) or authors’ oeuvres. This overview considers the origins and history of, and methods employed in, that scholarly enterprise, focusing upon the dual construals of “literature” in religious studies (as a body of sacred writings and as writing valued for artistic merit); the problematics of defining “religion”; the transformation of theology and literature as a “field” (pioneered by Nathan A. Scott Jr. et al.) to religion and literature; the affiliated fields of myth criticism, and of biblical reception; and the institutionalization, globalization, and future of the study of religion and literature.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of T.S. Eliot’s Religion and Literature

Analysis of T.S. Eliot’s Religion and Literature

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 5, 2020 • ( 1 )

Another essay from that period in Eliot’s career as a social and literary critic when he was staking out the parameters of his conservative views, Religion and Literature was originally from a lecture organized by the Reverend V. A. Demant and published in the volume Faith That Illuminates. Subsequently, in 1936, Eliot himself collected the essay in his Essays Ancient and Modern, a somewhat revised version of his own earlier collection, For Lancelot Andrewes: Essays on Style and Order, from 1928.

Eliot’s apparent aim for the essay is not to prove who is and who is not failing to meet the bar that he sets for dealing with spiritual matters or matters of belief in literature, so much as to establish which “explicit ethical and theological standards” can be properly brought to bear in the realm of contemporary literature. He makes this case because he feels that literary criticism requires “a definite ethical and theological standpoint.” His further, and more urgent, point is that in our own time, there is no agreement on what that standpoint should be, making it all that much more imperative that individuals scrutinize their reading accordingly, particularly since the “greatness” of literature “cannot be determined solely by literary standards.”

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In the immediate context of his remarks, Eliot specifically identifies these individuals as Christians, given the further fact that, in his view, he was as much fighting a holding action for asserting the Christian basis to European culture as attempting to resolve this particular critical conundrum. Eliot is correct in pointing out the obvious: “[M]oral judgements of literary works are made only according to the moral code accepted by each generation, whether it lives according to that code or not.” The point is indisputable: Whatever its source, however it may categorize itself or be categorized, a moral code directs our judgments of human behavior, including behavior that is manifested or explicated in works of literature.

The operating principle that he establishes as he commences his actual process of analysis is that his concern will be not religious literature, “but with the application of our religion to the criticism of any literature.” He does not get down to doing that, however, until he establishes the three senses in which one might refer to religious literature in the first place. One is in the same way as “we speak of ‘historical literarture’ or of ‘scientific literature,’ ” and that would constitute works that are well written and delightful to read, but whose primary claim to any reader’s attention is their significance in regard to the field of endeavor or study or interest that is being addressed. Another sense is as what is called “devotional poetry.” This often suggests the limitation, however, that that sort poetry is minor poetry. At the very least, Christian poetry in English, Eliot believes, “has been limited . . . almost exclusively to minor poetry.” The third sense in which one might refer to “religious literature” is in regard to works that advance some specific religious viewpoint. These kinds of works do not interest Eliot in his present critical effort because he wants, he says, a “literature which should be unconsciously, rather than deliberately and defiantly, Christian.”

Now Eliot is ready to get down to critical issues raised by the dual topics of religion and literature. The primary one is that “we fail to realize how completely, and yet how irrationally, we separate our literary from our religious judgements.” Using the 19th-century English novel for his case in point, he divides the development of this separation between religion and literature into three phases. In the first, faith was omitted entirely from “the picture of life” that these novels portrayed. In the second, faith was “doubted, worried about, or contested.” It is the third phase, the one “in which we are living,” that causes Eliot the most concern. From this concern of his, only the Irish novelist James Joyce is excepted, and it is that by now “the Christian Faith [is not] spoken of as anything but an anachronism.”

The absence of the notion of a viable and living religion from contemporary literature is a serious problem because, in Eliot’s view, “what we read does not concern merely something called our literary taste, but . . . affects directly, though only amongst many other influences, the whole of what we are.” Omitting religion from literature as anything other than as an anachronism clearly also omits it, for the contemporary reader who has no way of knowing any better, from that very “whole of what we are.”

The entire matter of literature’s more unconscious and unintended effects upon a reader’s total sensibilities, including the continuing formation of his or her moral and theological standards, is at the heart of Eliot’s message. “The relation of what I have been saying to the subject announced should now be a little more apparent,” he is now finally able to declare. He continues: “Though we may read literature merely for pleasure, of ‘entertainment’ or of ‘aesthetic enjoyment,’ this reading never affects simply a sort of special sense: it affects us as entire human beings; it affects our moral and religious existence.”

Eliot does not blame or condemn the individual writer and his or her values and beliefs either, such as they are. “[W]hat a writer does to people is not necessarily what he intends to do.” Indeed, Eliot can confess, quite honestly, one must imagine, that “I am not even sure that I have not had some pernicious influence myself.” So, then, it is not so important to describe and define the relationship between religion and literature as to admit, and accept, that there always is one. While it is “our business, as readers of literature, to know what we like,” for Christian readers, it is “our business . . . to know what we ought to like.”

Modern literature, Eliot concludes, is neither amoral nor immoral, although the implication is that it would be more suitable if it were because then those attitudes would be out in the open. Rather, the problem is that it either “repudiates, or is wholly ignorant of, our most fundamental and important beliefs,” thereby “encourag[ing] its readers to get what they can out of life while it lasts.” That sort of a hedonistic approach toward human existence, without any reference to the soul or eternity, is well within the realm of possible reasons given for living at any time, but Eliot’s cavil is with the apparently acceptable reality that, in our time, such a view is so prevalent a one as to seem to the typically unwary consumer of contemporary literature to be the only reasonable view.

CRITICAL COMMENTARY

For the decade or more preceding “Religion and Literature,” Eliot’s prose writing had been forking off in two separate but complementary directions. In the one case, he was investigating the constituents of what he regarded as effective poetry and dramatic verse in essays on such subjects as Elizabethan drama and dramatists and English metaphysical poetry, as well as on major literary figures such as William Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri. On the other hand, and in a parallel vein, he was engaging in a quasi-literary debate dealing with the limits of secular humanism as an evolving, atheistic intellectual posture and contemporary ameliorative for social ills. These two areas of inquiry and critical opinion often merged in the matter of the spiritual or religious nature of human experience as an aspect of literary endeavor.

Thus, Eliot was often raising and addressing questions related to the effective communication of thought and of feeling, the connections between poetry and belief and between poetry and philosophy, and the proper intellectual and historical foundations for assessing and maintaining moral and spiritual order and action. In “Religion and Literature,” Eliot is less contentious and more analytical with regard to the topic at hand, but he is still a Christian apologist.

As Eliot sees it, there is only one solution to the culture and society’s increasing secularization of matters formerly left to religion, and it is a practical and practicable solution: Those with a view toward obtaining a religious view of life from contemporary works of literature must work “tirelessly [to] criticize it according to our own principles, and not merely according to the principles admitted by the writers and by the critics who discuss it in the public press.” There is always present in the culture a relation between religion and literature because they are two critical components of any human culture of any time. In our own time, Eliot believes, that necessary relation must be safeguarded, even if only for themselves, by individuals who care not what the moment may bring, but what eternity may.

How religious scientists balance work and faith

Anne Marie Conlon

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Anurag Chaurasia holds up a tube of water from the holy river Ganga

In Varanasi, India, biotechnologist Anurag Chaurasia collects water samples from the River Ganges, which is sacred to Hindus. Credit: Shri Kashi Vishwanath Baba

For the past 20 years, Elaine Howard Ecklund has studied scientists’ attitudes towards religion. What she’s found, through more than 40,000 surveys and nearly 2,500 confidential interviews, is that there are more religious scientists than many people would expect. In one study, at least 30% of respondents declared a religious affiliation ( E. H. Ecklund et al. Socius https://doi.org/mvrv; 2016 ).This study surveyed scientists from eight countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong, Turkey and the United States. Globally, around 85% of the population identifies as religious (see go.nature.com/3yatbk5 ). Ecklund’s research has also found that scientists are not always open about their faith at work or in education settings. “I think there is the perception sometimes that other scientists won’t take you seriously if you talk about your faith,” says Ecklund, a sociologist based at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Confidentiality, says Ecklund, allowed the scientists she surveyed to be more open about their faith than they might otherwise have been. “They were almost waiting to talk about it,” she says. “They feel like there’s so much silence within the scientific community about religion — it felt somewhat of a relief to talk about their own approach to religion in a safe environment.”

Ecklund has also found that many scientists are quite open to their colleagues’ beliefs. “Atheist scientists are much less negative about religion than we might be led to believe by the loudest voices, which we often think are the most numerous ones. And that’s often not the case,” she says. For example, her 2016 study found that in the United States, two-thirds of scientists do not view the science–religion relationship as one of conflict.

Serving science and the Church as the Pope’s astronomer

Ecklund has found that attitudes to faith in the workplace vary by country. For example, she says, “Indian scientists assume that there’ll be more discussion of religion within scientific contexts. So, there’s sometimes blessings over experiments. There is an assumption that staff in a lab will want to have time off for spiritual and religious holidays.”

Nature spoke to five religious scientists about how they navigate faith at work. Their experiences differ, but none felt a conflict between their beliefs and their science. Although none had experienced any direct discrimination on the basis of their religion, some did admit to being less open about their faith in particular professional contexts.

Many say that science and religion work in harmony as ways of understanding the world. Anurag Chaurasia, a biotechnologist with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Varanasi, recalls how, as a graduate student, he and his classmates would follow the guiding principles of the Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita to help them find direction. When experiments went awry, for example, their professor would instruct them: “Read the first message of this book, ‘Do your duty without being attached to the fruits of your action; do your duty selflessly.’” This guidance, says Chaurasia, taught him and his colleagues perseverance and how to handle failure. Bhagavad Gita principles also shaped group yoga sessions to aid relaxation and support good mental health, and brought them together as a team.

Re-examination

Mikaela Lee, a technical instructor in biomedical sciences at Solent University in Southampton, UK, says that her strong Christian faith informs her world view. “The way I approach science, personally, is as a way to glorify God and find out more about his creation,” she adds.

Raised in California as an evangelical Christian, Lee experienced how a more conservative set of beliefs can be in conflict with science. “I grew up believing in creationism, that God created the world. Evolution was kind of like a dirty word in my church,” she says. “But I also believed that we, as human beings, had almost an obligation to study the natural world and discover things about it, especially for medical research. And as I got older, I decided that you couldn’t take bits and pieces: you either had to accept all of the science or none of it.” This led her to adjust her religious beliefs to accommodate scientific evidence.

“The evidence that I saw was quite convincing. When we studied evolution in school, it kind of clicked in my brain. And it doesn’t just make sense. It’s beautiful. It’s elegant. That was the tipping point for me.” Lee found herself re-examining many of the conservative beliefs that she’d been taught growing up. After moving to the United Kingdom for university in 2018, she joined the more liberal United Reformed Church, which, she says, has many scientist members.

Portrait of Benjamin Grandey at his desk

Climate scientist Benjamin Grandey has been able to have conversations about his religious faith at work thanks to an open workplace culture. Credit: Benjamin Stephen Grandey

For climate scientist Benjamin Grandey, who is based in Singapore, his Christian faith informs his science: “My theology helps me to appreciate the value of why science works, because I believe in a God who has made a very ordered Universe, and that he has given us, as human beings, the ability to understand a lot about that Universe.” For example, Grandey points out that mathematics, a human construct, is “so good at providing tools to describe physical phenomena in the world beyond our minds”.

Assumed atheism

Sociologist Christopher Scheitle surveyed more than 1,300 graduate students about their experiences and their attitudes to religion. He found that many religious people studying science struggle to be open about their faith, reporting a culture of ‘assumed atheism’ that often led them to conceal their religion for fear of being judged or discriminated against (see go.nature.com/4brey69 ). “I remember having several conversations with students who were very thoughtful about hiding the fact that they were religious,” says Scheitle, who is based at West Virginia University in Morgantown. One said that she purposely avoided revealing her religious beliefs until she had established herself as a scientist. “Her fear was that if people knew early in the programme, she would immediately be labelled as ‘not a serious scientist’.”

Religion and science can have a true dialogue

Their fears were understandable, because the culture of assumed atheism meant that other students and professors felt they could speak dismissively about religion, Scheitle says. “Among students who are more religious, it is a fairly common experience that they hear offhand negative or stereotypical comments about religion or religious people,” he adds, either in the classroom or in the laboratory or departmental offices.

As Scheitle notes in his 2023 book The Faithful Scientist , when people conceal a part of their identity, it can be isolating. “Research has found that this concealment itself often ends up being harmful to their own psychological well-being and to their sense of connection to others,” he writes.

Some graduate students that Scheitle spoke to have established their own communities, who meet for prayer and discussions on faith. Those who were open about their faith admitted having awkward interactions with their non-religious peers. “You can tell [that some co-workers] get uncomfortable, and they change the subject,” said one chemistry student. “It’s not something that’s deterred me from being who I am, but I hate the awkward interactions.”

Suzanne Kalka is open about her Pentecostal faith and has worked with organizations that promote harmony between science and religion in her role as a science educator based in Manchester, UK. One of these organizations is God and the Big Bang , which runs school workshops to encourage students to discuss the compatibility of science and faith. But in her previous career as a science teacher, Kalka says that she felt less free to discuss her religion. She taught mainly in secular schools, and, especially in her early career, felt a need to prove herself, deciding not to put her role at risk by singling herself out through her religious beliefs. “It’s tough, because you’re living two lives — you don’t want to risk your scientific credibility by being openly religious. I didn’t wear any kind of outward signs of any religious belief. I lived a very compartmentalized life. I wanted to be seen to be a very competent teacher of science.”

People of faith are allies to stall climate change

Towards the end of her teaching career, Kalka decided that she wanted to be more forthright about her faith. She took a role in a Church of England school and found that she could be more open. “But even there,” she added, “it was a minority of science teachers who had any religious belief at all, and it was never discussed.”

Kalka thinks that science teachers who are religious still find it difficult to be open about their beliefs. Her advice to them is to offer examples of famous scientists who combined a life of faith with their scientific achievements. She cites data showing that 75% of scientists who won a Nobel prize between 1901 and 2000 were of Judaeo-Christian faith (B. A. Shalev 100 Years of Nobel Prizes ; 2002).

An accepting culture

Faadiel Essop says that growing up in apartheid South Africa made him think more broadly about things. In the 1990s, his country rejected its history of government-sanctioned racial segregation, and he thinks that this has led to a more sensitive, tolerant society, in which he feels able to express his Muslim faith and identity. “There’s a lot of space for you to express yourself in general in society.”

A medical physiologist at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, and the director of the university’s Centre for Cardio-metabolic Research in Africa, Essop says there’s a strong culture of acceptance and a willingness to make accommodations for religious practices, both at Stellenbosch and across Africa more generally. Essop travels across the continent regularly for scientific meetings and says that he’s seen both Muslims and Christians being “quite comfortable to express their religion”.

Faadiel Essop says there’s a culture of openness in discussions of faith in South Africa. Credit: Wilma Stassen

Closer to home, his university colleagues are sure to provide him with halal foods (those permitted by Islamic law) at meetings or events, and the teaching schedule leaves gaps on Fridays for congregational prayers. This year, the head of his department came to speak to him before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to discuss the daily fasts that he would be undertaking. “There is that empathy. It’s not necessary, but it’s nice. It shows that he’s got an interest, and I can explain what I do.”

An open workplace culture has also helped Grandey to be comfortable discussing his faith at work. The climate physicist moved to Singapore after growing up and completing his studies in the United Kingdom. He has found that office environments that are culturally diverse, in which people are open to discussing their personal lives, leave room for conversations about faith, too.

“In my last workplace, the Singapore–MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, it was very international, very diverse. I remember enjoying many stimulating conversations with colleagues from other Asian countries who had not had much exposure to Christianity. They were very open to learning about what I believed as a Christian, and sharing about their own beliefs, too,” says Grandey, who is now a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University.

Risks of ruling out religion

Essop sees the often-strict divide between science and religion, especially in places where he’s lived and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a barrier to the free exploration of ideas. Discussing evolution and the origins of life, for example, in such environments could lead to stilted conversation.

“That’s where religion has been sidelined in a way, because the two, work and religion, are viewed as separate domains. Personally, I think they’re an integrated whole.”

From her studies, Ecklund thinks that accepting the existence of religion in a scientific context can help to encourage diversity. “Our studies show that people may be kept out of science to some extent because they’re religious, either that they don’t ever go into science, because they think religious people can’t be scientists, or that they feel like they have to hide that they’re religious.”

Close-up of Elaine Howard Ecklund speaking at a conference

Sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund studies scientists’ attitudes towards religion. Credit: Michael Stravato

Women and people of colour — groups that the scientific community strives to attract and retain — are more likely to identify as religious. “By raising suspicion about religious people, we, as scientists, may be inadvertently keeping racial and ethnic minorities and women out of science,” she says.

Essop has devised a graduate teaching module on the philosophy of science and “influences that can shape science”. He encourages other educators and researchers to fold spiritual and philosophical elements into academic discussions, because he thinks an approach to science that considers other belief systems will nurture more-inclusive attitudes in his students.

“We’ve got to look at more-holistic training,” he says, and at other systems – such as Indigenous knowledge, which has inspired “an awakening” of interest around the world. “We’re looking at science a bit differently — that it’s not just an absolute thing, but instead we consider many facets.”

Nature 629 , 957-959 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01471-0

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World J Clin Cases
v.9(26); 2021 Sep 16

Spirituality, religiousness, and mental health: A review of the current scientific evidence

Giancarlo lucchetti.

School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36030-776, Brazil. [email protected]

Harold G Koenig

Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, United States

Alessandra Lamas Granero Lucchetti

School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36030-776, Brazil

Corresponding author: Giancarlo Lucchetti, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Av. Eugênio do Nascimento s/n, Juiz de Fora 36030-776, Brazil. [email protected]

Research in the field of “Spirituality and Health” has been growing, with spirituality/religiousness (S/R) being consistently related to both physical and mental health. The objective of this article is to provide an updated review of the current scientific evidence on the relationship between S/R and mental health, highlighting the most important studies. As a secondary objective, the mechanisms that explain this relationship and the interventions that utilize this information in treating mental disorders will be discussed. The findings reveal a large body of evidence across numerous psychiatric disorders. Although solid evidence is now available for depression, suicidality, and substance use, other diagnosis, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and anxiety, have also shown promising results. The effects of S/R on mental health are likely bidirectional, and the manner in which religious beliefs are used to cope with distress ( i.e. negative and positive), may affect mental health outcomes. Despite these findings, the mechanisms that explain these associations and the role of S/R interventions need further study. Concerning clinical practice, mental health providers should ask patients about S/R that are important in their lives to provide holistic and patient-centered care.

Core Tip: The number of studies assessing spirituality/religiousness (S/R) and mental health has been increasing over the past several decades, resulting now in a large body of evidence suggesting an impact of S/R. However, there remain many gaps in the literature that need filling in this area. There are numerous practical clinical applications that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals should consider implementing in clinical care. This will lead to a more holistic and patient-centered form of mental health care.

INTRODUCTION

The field of spirituality/religiousness (S/R) has been growing rapidly as scientific evidence has accumulated on the relationship with mental health[ 1 ]. The research has been hampered by the lack of consensus on the definition of the term spirituality, which authors have begun to differentiate from religiousness[ 2 ].

On the one hand, religion involves beliefs, practices, and rituals related to the transcendent; on the other hand, spirituality is a broader concept, which includes the personal quest for understanding answers to ultimate questions about life, life meaning, and relationship with the sacred or transcendent[ 1 ]. Using these definitions, an individual could have high levels of spirituality even with low levels of religiousness.

In the past decades, several organizations ( e.g. , the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association) have recognized the role of spirituality in clinical practice[ 3 ]. Likewise, this topic has been consistently incorporated into the curricula of several medical schools throughout the world, ranging from 40% of schools in Brazil to 59% of those in the United Kingdom and 90% in the United States[ 4 , 5 ]. The incorporation of spirituality into medical education has been prompted by the great number of publications and the growing evidence of a relationship with health that has resulted in thousands of articles published in indexed scientific journals[ 1 ].

Recent evidence has shown that S/R have been associated with several different health outcomes both physical and emotional[ 3 , 6 , 7 ]. In relation to physical health, the majority of studies have found that S/R is related to lower levels of hospitalization and pain, greater survival, and better functional status and cardiovascular outcomes[ 6 , 8 , 9 ]. However, it is important to note that at least 80% of the research in this area has focused on mental health outcomes[ 1 ].

The objective of this review is to provide an updated review of the current evidence on the relationship between S/R and mental health, highlighting the most important studies. As a secondary objective, the mechanisms for this relationship, possible interventions utilizing these findings, and the broader clinical implications will be discussed.

HISTORY OF S/R IN PSYCHIATRY

The relationship between S/R and mental and physical health dates back to ancient times. However, in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, particularly in the field of psychiatry, this religious involvement was viewed as negative, and responsible for worse outcomes, such as hysteria and neurosis[ 3 , 10 ]. This created a separation between religion and medicine, and has resulted in negative attitudes toward addressing spiritual and religious beliefs in clinical practice[ 11 , 12 ]. In the 1970s and 80s, several studies were published showing that S/R were generally associated with better mental health[ 1 ], and psychiatry residency programs began incorporating this topic in their curricula[ 13 ]. In 2016, the World Psychiatry Association published a position statement on spirituality and religion in psychiatry urging the inclusion of S/R on clinical encounters and training with the goal of providing a more holistic and comprehensive form of mental health care[ 14 ].

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN S/R AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES

A description of the evidence for each mental health condition is described below and the summary of these results is presented in Table Table1 1 .

Summary of the results of the studies included in this review

S/R: Spirituality/religiousness.

Depression and anxiety

The relationship between S/R and depressive symptoms has been widely investigated, being one of the areas with more evidence than any other mental health outcome. In 2003, a meta-analysis conducted by Smith et al [ 15 ] examined the results of 147 studies that included almost 100000 participants, finding an average inverse correlation of -0.10 between S/R and depression. The same results were reported in a recent systematic review that included only longitudinal studies[ 16 ]. In that review of 152 prospective studies published up through 2017, 49% reported at least one significant association between S/R and a better course of depression, 41% showed a non-significant association, and 10% indicated an association with more depression, resulting in an overall effect size of d = -0.18 between S/R and depressive symptoms.

With regard to specific longitudinal studies, a 14-year follow-up study in Canada that included 12583 participants[ 17 ] found that monthly religious attenders had a 22% lower risk of depression compared to non-attenders, a result which persisted after adjustment for confounders and explanatory variables. However, spiritual beliefs were not associated with depression in this sample. Likewise, in a study that followed 114 adult offspring of parents with and without depression, investigators found that those who reported at year 10 that religion or spirituality was very important had about one-fourth the risk of experiencing major depression between years 10 and 20 compared to other participants[ 18 ].

Similar results were also observed by a 20-year follow up study[ 19 ], in which frequency of religious attendance was associated with a 43% lower risk of developing mood disorders, as well as in a prospective study of a representative sample of South-Africans[ 20 ], which found that religious affiliation and importance of religion were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms after 4 years of follow up.

Despite these positive findings, different results have been reported in non-Western countries. For example, a 13-year longitudinal study which investigated 67723 adults in Japan[ 21 ] found that highly religious individuals had more major depressive disorders compared to non-religious individuals, highlighting that cultural aspects could help to explain the different outcomes reported in the literature. Furthermore, a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of South Americans[ 22 ] involving 7524 participants from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay found that highly religious women, but not men, had 50% lower likelihood of having depression. Finally, another cross-cultural study involving 21410 participants from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa[ 23 ] found no association between depression and having a religious affiliation compared to those without.

There has also been research on the effects of S/R on the remission rate in those experiencing a depressive disorder. Koenig et al [ 24 ] followed 111 medically ill older patients for about a year, finding that those with higher scores on a measure of intrinsic religiousness had more rapid remissions than those with lower scores. In the Netherlands, Braam et al [ 25 ] found a greater remission rate among those reporting that religion was more important in their lives, and in a Brazilian study, Mosqueiro et al [ 26 ] found that religious attendance was the main predictor of remission of depressive symptoms in tertiary care mental health patients.

With regard to anxiety, according to the systematic review carried out by Koenig et al [ 24 ] in the two editions of the Handbook of Religion and Health , at least 299 studies have been published on this topic up through 2010. Among these studies, 49% reported an inverse association, 40% found no association, and 11% indicated a positive association (S/R associated with greater anxiety).

However, it is important to note that the evidence of S/R in anxiety is more limited than that on S/R and depression. Although several studies have found a relationship between S/R and lower levels of anxiety[ 27 , 28 ], others have not. For example, in a representative sample of 1091 United States adults[ 29 ], religious attendance and spirituality were not associated with anxiety disorders, similar to findings of another study[ 30 ]. Similar results were found for fear of death in older adults. For example, a longitudinal study including 155 older participants[ 31 ] found no relationship between S/R and fear of death.

In summary, there is substantial evidence for a relationship between S/R and depression, and that relationship is generally inverse in nature ( i.e. higher S/R is associated with lower levels of depression). Nevertheless, only a few studies have examined the effect of S/R on remission of depressive disorder.

Concerning anxiety, the evidence is relatively limited, and the findings are mixed. Further studies, particularly longitudinal studies, are needed in this area.

There is a large literature base examining the relationship between S/R, suicidal thoughts/behaviors, and completed suicide, generally indicating that those individuals with high S/R beliefs tend to have fewer of these. A systematic review published in 2016 has confirmed this finding[ 32 ]. A total of 89 articles were included in that review, with the authors finding that religious attendance was protective against suicide attempts and completed suicide, but not suicide ideation, even after adjusting for social support. Similarly, another meta-analysis[ 33 ] reported protective effect of religiousness on completed suicide (OR = 0.38), an effect that was more pronounced in Western countries and in older adults.

One of the largest studies in this area was conducted by VanderWeele et al [ 34 ], which included 89708 United States women aged 30 to 55 years followed for 14 years. Attending religious services was associated with a 5-fold lower incidence of suicide compared to never attending religious services. Another study in the United States that included a nationally representative sample of 30650 non-institutionalized adults[ 35 ] found that religious attendance, but not religious affiliation, was protective against suicide in a 30-year follow-up. The same results were also reported by study of a representative United States sample ( n = 20014)[ 36 ], in which lower religious attendance was the most important predictor of completed suicide.

In a European study involving participants from 22 countries, researchers found that greater religiousness was associated with lower suicide rates, again after adjustment for multiple confounders and explanatory variables[ 37 ]. Likewise, in a study carried out in the United Kingdom with 7403 participants[ 38 ], researchers found that the rates for suicide ideation and suicide attempts were significantly lower for the religious as compared to the nonreligious individuals. It is interesting to note that the results, then, have been similar in both religious and non-religious countries.

Despite the findings above, the largest study so far concerning the relationship between S/R and suicide failed to detect differences based on religious affiliation only[ 39 ]. This study examined 1106104 participants in the United Kingdom, finding that the risk of suicide was similar for those with and without a religious affiliation, with exception of conservative Christians who had lower risk.

In summary, the evidence indicates a relationship between S/R and lower rates of suicide attempts and completed suicide. Cultural aspects, however, may influence these findings and should be considered when conducting such studies and interpreting the findings.

Substance use disorder

The role of S/R in substance use and abuse has been extensively studied during the past several decades, possibly motivated by the success of 12-steps program such as Alcoholics Anonymous[ 40 ]. S/R has been found to be protective in terms of developing substance use disorders and may also help in the recovery from such disorders[ 41 ]. For example, in a systematic review[ 42 ] that examined the relationship between substance use/misuse and S/R, researchers found that several different aspects of religiosity were related to a reduced risk of substance use in 99 of 105 studies. A more recent systematic review[ 43 ] that included 26 articles found that religiousness ( r = -0.16) and religious attendance ( r = -0.19) were both inversely related to alcohol use. In a meta-analysis conducted on studies in adolescents published in 2020[ 44 ], which included 16 studies, researchers also found a protective effect for religiousness on adolescent alcohol use (z = -0.21). Concerning the role of S/R as an influence on recovery from substance abuse, a systematic review published in 2013[ 41 ] identified 29 studies, finding weak, but significant, positive effects.

Studies using representative samples have provided further evidence to support these findings. A representative sample of 676 adolescents in the United States[ 45 ] reported that devotion to the Divine and fundamentalist Protestant religious affiliations were associated with lower substance use ( i.e. alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, or any contraband drug). Another United States representative and longitudinal study that included 1969 adolescents[ 46 ] found that religiousness had a buffering effect on alcohol use and binge drinking in White, but not in non-White individuals. Outside of the United States, a nation-wide study of 3007 adult Brazilians found that higher religious attendance was associated with less alcohol problems, and self-reported religiousness was associated with less harmful effects of drinking[ 47 ]. Finally, a study of a representative sample of 5387 Swiss men[ 48 ] revealed that S/R was again inversely associated with substance use ( i.e. alcohol, binge drinking, tobacco, cannabis).

In summary, there is robust evidence on the relationship between S/R and substance use and abuse, and most studies report an inverse association ( i.e. higher S/R is associated with less substance use or abuse). Although studies on S/R and alcohol use or abuse are more common, the same findings are being reported for other substances as well.

Psychotic disorder

Patients with psychotic disorders can often present with religious delusions (ranging from 15% to 39%), which are sometimes difficult to distinguish from nonpsychotic religious beliefs[ 49 ]. Evidence shows that religious delusions have been associated with poor functioning, longer duration of illness, and more severe symptoms[ 50 ], and often, but not always, occur in highly religious patients[ 51 ]. Nevertheless, studies examining the role of nonpsychotic religious beliefs in psychotic individuals are still relatively rare in the literature.

Once seen as a possible complication of psychotic disorders, new studies have shown that S/R could also have positive effects in these patients. Rosmarin et al [ 52 ] prospectively investigated 47 psychotic patients and found that positive religious coping predicted a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms, while negative coping was associated with suicidality and more affective symptoms[ 53 ]. Mohr et al [ 54 ] assessed 276 outpatients with psychotic disorders in Switzerland, finding that religion was helpful in 87% of participants and was associated with better social, clinical, and psychological outcomes. In contrast, negative use of religion was associated with worse outcomes and conflict with the medical treatments offered. In a longitudinal study, Verghese et al [ 55 ] investigated 323 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and found that an increase in nonpsychotic religious activities predicted a good prognosis in a 2-year follow up. Finally, a Croatian study with 50 psychotic patients[ 56 ] found that higher religious attendance was associated with fewer negative symptoms.

Despite this growing evidence of a positive effect of S/R on psychotic symptoms, two recent studies carried out in the general population reported different results. In the first study conducted in France[ 57 ], which involved 38694 nonpsychotic adults, religious beliefs and religious observance were both positively associated with psychotic-like symptoms and disorders. A second study of 25542 adults from 18 countries[ 58 ] also found that “increased religiousness was associated with psychotic experiences.” What might have been labeled as psychotic symptoms, however, may have involved religiously and culturally sanctioned beliefs or attitudes .

In summary, religious delusions are common among patients with psychotic disorders and may be associated with a poor prognosis. However, nonpsychotic religious beliefs are generally associated with better outcomes and improved coping with psychotic symptoms. Studies in the general population are infrequent and need replication in different cultural contexts.

Obsessive compulsive disorder

Some studies have assessed the relationship between S/R and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). OCD may present with obsessions and compulsions focused on religion, and this has been well described in clinical practice. However, as in psychotic disorders, studies concerning the relationship between S/R and OCD symptoms are infrequent. Research has shown that scrupulosity, but not other OCD symptoms, varied across religious affiliations[ 59 ]. Religious attendance, but not religious coping, has been negatively associated with OCD in one study[ 60 ], and at least one other study found that religious attitudes were not related to OCD symptoms[ 61 ]. Research on the effects of S/R on OCD, therefore, is underdeveloped and more studies are needed.

Bipolar disorder

In a cross-sectional study[ 62 ] involving 168 bipolar patients, researchers found that religiousness and positive religious coping were associated with better mental health and well-being outcomes, whereas negative coping was associated with worse mental health outcomes. Another study[ 63 ] that included a sample of 164 bipolar disorder patients found that suicide attempts were less common among religious patients. In a multicenter study in Austria and Japan[ 64 ], a modest association was found between higher importance of S/R and residual manic symptoms. Finally, a 2-year longitudinal study[ 65 ] reported that positive religious coping and intrinsic religiousness predicted greater well-being after a 2-year follow up, and negative coping predicted greater manic symptoms. In summary, while studies are few, there is evidence that S/R may have a positive impact on bipolar disorder outcomes. Nevertheless, more longitudinal studies are warranted.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Several studies have assessed the role of S/R in post-traumatic stress disorders, generally finding positive outcomes. Prieto-Ursúa et al [ 66 ] evaluated 1,091 Spanish individuals and found that religiousness was associated with posttraumatic growth during COVID-19 pandemic. Similar findings have been observed in other contexts such as among parents who lost children[ 67 ], civilians and veterans involved in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina[ 68 ], survivors of a Haiti earthquake[ 69 ], and adolescents in the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon[ 70 ].

Thus, S/R may serve to buffer against post-traumatic stress, generally increasing the psychological growth following stressful situations.

Eating disorders

The relationship between S/R and eating disorders is probably one of the most unexplored areas in S/R and mental health. Most of the studies involve small convenience samples or case reports. However, a recent systematic review on this topic summarize the results from 22 studies[ 71 ], finding that strong positive religious beliefs were associated with lower levels of disordered eating and body image concerns. In contrast, a “doubtful” faith had effects in the opposite direction, resulting in worse outcomes. With regard to specific studies, King et al [ 72 ] surveyed 55 American college women and found that spiritual transcendence was associated with greater body satisfaction. Likewise, Goulet et al [ 73 ] found that spirituality and viewing the body as sacred was associated with body satisfaction and fewer eating pathology symptoms. Not all findings, however, were in the same direction. For example, a study conducted in Israel[ 74 ] failed to detect an association between being a member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish faith tradition ( vs non-orthodox tradition) and eating disorder symptoms among women. Likewise, a study in Muslim college women[ 75 ] found a positive association between religiosity and greater eating disorder symptoms. Thus, the effects of S/R on eating disorder symptoms severity are mixed, depending on how S/R is used in relationship to symptoms.

RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES AND NEGATIVE RELIGIOUS COPING

As reviewed above, most of the evidence on the relationship between S/R and mental health seems positive. However, there are also numerous patients who use S/R in a negative way (ranging from 7% to 15%)[ 76 - 78 ]. In this context, positive religious spiritual coping ( e.g. , benevolent religious appraisals, religious forgiveness) often results in better outcomes, while negative religious spiritual coping ( e.g. , feeling abandoned or punished by God) appears to have the opposite effects on mental health[ 79 ]. For example, Fitchett et al [ 76 ] assessed three groups of patients (cardiovascular, oncologic and diabetic), finding that 15% had religious struggles. In that study, religious struggles were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and distress in all groups of patients. Similar results have been reported between negative religious coping and depressive and anxiety symptoms in hemodialysis patients[ 80 ], more symptoms of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance among patients with acute coronary syndrome[ 81 ], more depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction in heart failure patients[ 82 ], higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder in the general population[ 83 ], and greater suicidality among psychiatric patients[ 52 ].

S/R INTERVENTIONS

Several meta-analysis have examined the effects of S/R interventions on mental health, with often promising results[ 84 - 89 ]. The incorporation of S/R in psychological interventions ( i.e. counselling and psychotherapy) has been explored in several of these reviews. For example, McCullough[ 89 ] found that religion-accommodative counselling was more effective than the standard care for depression. Likewise, Smith et al [ 86 ] found a beneficial effect of spirituality-oriented psychotherapy approaches in treating psychiatry disorders such as depression, anxiety, stress, and eating disorders.

Other reviews have not been as positive. For example, Oh et al [ 87 ] and Xing et al [ 88 ] found significant but weak evidence that spiritual interventions reduced depression, anxiety, and hopelessness in patients with cancer. Likewise, Gonçalves et al [ 84 ] reported that S/R interventions were effective for reducing anxiety symptoms, but not for depressive symptoms. Clearly, more rigorously conducted clinical trials are needed to firmly establish the efficacy of S/R interventions.

PROPOSED MECHANISMS

There is no single mechanism to explain the effects of S/R on mental health. Koenig and colleagues[ 1 ] have proposed that S/R is associated with human virtues ( e.g. , forgiveness, altruism, gratefulness), and that these virtues may mediate the relationship between SR and mental health outcomes. However, other factors, such as adherence to therapy, health behaviors, and use and abuse of alcohol and drugs, may also influence this relationship. Despite several discussions on the possible pathways by which S/R affects mental and physical health[ 90 - 95 ], it remains unclear how S/R is related to biological factors that influence the development and course of mental disorders.

Recently, authors have attempted to identify specific markers that may help to explain the relationship between S/R and mental health. Higher levels of S/R have been associated with higher rates of brain-derived neurotrophic factor[ 96 ]; self-transcendence have been linked to serotonin transporter (SERT) availability in brainstem raphe nuclei[ 97 ], and correlations have been reported between S/R and genes for dopamine, serotonin, vesicular transporters, and oxytocin[ 98 ]. Nevertheless, it is important to note that these are preliminary studies and future research will be needed to clarify how S/R influences mental health through these biological mechanisms.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The findings from the present review have important clinical implications. Previous studies have shown that patients have spiritual needs that they wish to be addressed by health professionals[ 99 ]. Few health professionals, however, bring up S/R issues during clinical encounters[ 100 ], and the situation is even worse among psychiatrists[ 3 ]. Based on the review of research above, S/R has an important influence, one way or another, on mental health outcomes. Psychiatrists and mental health providers should be aware of these studies and be trained to address these issues in practice[ 101 ].

As highlighted in the Position Statement of the WPA[ 14 ], psychiatrists and other mental health providers should seek to understand the patient’s S/R and its relationship with the diagnosis, etiology and treatment of their psychiatric disorder, routinely consider S/R in the history taking ( i.e. take a formal mental health spiritual history), work together with chaplains and religious leaders, demonstrate respect and sensitivity for patients’ S/R beliefs, and explore the positive and potentially negative aspects of S/R on mental health. We agree with this statement and encourage the training of residents and medical students to address these issues in clinical care.

LIMITATIONS

This is a narrative review of the current scientific literature, not a systematic review. Thus, this may have resulted in selection bias with regard to the research reports that were reviewed here. The forthcoming 3 rd edition of the Handbook of Religion and Health , however, will provide a systematic review of quantitative research examining the relationship between S/R in both mental and physical health.

The number of studies assessing S/R and mental health has been increasing over the past several decades, resulting now in a large body of evidence suggesting an impact of S/R. Most of this research has focused on depression, suicidality and substance use, and several studies have reported promising results with regard to post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and anxiety. Fewer studies have examined the relationship between S/R and obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorders. The effects of S/R on mental health are likely to be bidirectional, and the way that S/R beliefs are used when confronting stressors ( i.e. negative and positive) influences the results of studies now being conducted. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which S/R affects mental health remains unclear, and further studies examining such pathways are needed, as well as clinical trials examining the impact of S/R interventions on mental health outcomes. Thus, there remain many gaps in the literature that need filling in this particular area. Nevertheless, based on the current evidence, there are numerous practical clinical applications that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals should consider implementing in clinical care (particularly, the taking of an S/R history in all patients). This, we believe, will lead to a more holistic and patient-centered form of mental health care.

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest.

Manuscript source: Invited manuscript

Peer-review started: February 25, 2021

First decision: May 26, 2021

Article in press: July 23, 2021

Specialty type: Psychiatry

Country/Territory of origin: Brazil

Peer-review report’s scientific quality classification

Grade A (Excellent): 0

Grade B (Very good): 0

Grade C (Good): C

Grade D (Fair): 0

Grade E (Poor): 0

P-Reviewer: Wang MZ S-Editor: Ma YJ L-Editor: Filipodia P-Editor: Li JH

Contributor Information

Giancarlo Lucchetti, School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36030-776, Brazil. [email protected] .

Harold G Koenig, Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, United States.

Alessandra Lamas Granero Lucchetti, School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36030-776, Brazil.

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