Initiative on Health, Religion, and Spirituality

An Interfaculty Initiative across Harvard University

The Initiative aims to be a research catalyst for an integrated model of spirituality, public health and patient care, one that fosters collaboration across Harvard University, and dialogue with spiritual communities. In light of the separation between body and soul within contemporary healthcare, the Initiative upholds stringent scientific and social-scientific methods of analysis, followed by interdisciplinary teams of empirical researchers, scholars, and theologians, based within a line of inquiry that seeks understanding of spirit, mind, and body. The program is oriented around the question:

How may religion and spirituality in concert with public health and the practice of medicine allievate illness and promote human well-being?