Pastoral and Spiritual Care Across Religions and Cultures II

This diverse compilation of contributions explores the pressing topic of how to provide appropriate spiritual care in the context of human migration. The psycho-spiritual dimensions of suffering particular to human migration, such as social exclusion, alienation, and various types of trauma, are considered from various disciplinary perspectives. Complex but important questions are explored: How might various methods of self-healing be better supported by spiritual caregivers? How can faith communities cultivate more supportive contexts, responsive to the particular needs prompted by migration? The International Association for Spiritual Care IASC, founded in 2015 in Bern, Switzerland, is dedicated to the promotion of richer interdisciplinary dialogue amongst people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. The volume starts from the premise that failures to cultivate deeper respect for diversity risks cultural misunderstandings and relational harm in the context of helping relationships, and therefore, personal encounters and scholarly exchanges between Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, people without religious affiliation, and atheists are critically important and unquestionably valuable. These contributions reflect the fruits of the inaugural conference of the IASC, which was held at the University of Bern and in the House of Religions in June, 2016.