Spiritual Dimensions of Ageing

330 Pages·2016·3.267 MB·English

by  Malcolm Johnson (editor), Joanna Walker (editor)

Spiritual Dimensions of Ageing
Ourunderstandingsofbothageingandspiritualityarechangingrapidlyin
thetwenty-firstcentury,andgraspingthesignificanceoflaterlifespiritu-
alityisnowcrucialinthecontextofextendedlongevity.SpiritualDimen-
sionsofAgeingwillinformandengagethosewhostudyorpractiseinall
fieldsthatrelatetothelivesofolderpeople,especiallyinsocial,psycho-
logical and health-related domains, but also wherever the maintenance
and development of spiritual meaning and purpose are recognised as
importantforhumanflourishing.Bringingtogetheraninternationalgroup
of leading scholars across the fields of psychology, theology, history,
philosophy, sociology and gerontology, the volume distils the latest
advancesinresearchonspiritualityandageing,andengagesinvigorous
discussionabouthowwecaninterpretthislearningforthebenefitofolder
peopleandthosewhoseektoserveandsupportthem.
malcolmjohnsonisVisitingProfessorofGerontologyandEndofLife
Care at the University of Bath, and Emeritus Professor of Health and
Social Policy at the University of Bristol. From 1984–1995 he was
ProfessorofHealthandSocialWelfareandfirstDeanoftheSchoolof
HealthandSocialWelfareattheOpenUniversity.Hisresearchinterests
includebiographicalstudies,deathanddyingandhismajorspecialism,
ageingandthelifespan.Ofhisfourteenbooksandover160monographs,
chaptersandarticles,morethanhalfrelatetoageing.TheseincludeThe
CambridgeHandbookofAge&Ageing.HeisaformerSecretaryofBritish
SocietyofGerontologyandFoundingEditoroftheinternationaljournal
AgeingandSociety(CambridgeUniversityPress).
joanna walker is currently engaged in postgraduate research on
ageingandspiritualityatSouthamptonUniversityintheUK,following
acareerinadulteducationfocusedonolderlearners.Whilstalecturer
at Surrey University she led a government-funded project to improve
the national quality of pre-retirement education by developing a
resource centre, a postgraduate training scheme for practitioners, and
publishing related books and papers. She chaired the Association for
Education and Ageing from 2005–2012 and is associate editor of its
InternationalJournalofEducationandAgeing.Shewasanadvisertothe
BishopofGuildfordconcerningadulteducationforfifteenyears,until
2014. A common thread has been a passion for older people’s con-
tinuing development.

Spiritual Dimensions of Ageing
Malcolm Johnson
UniversitiesofBathandBristol
Joanna Walker
UniversityofSouthampton
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Firstpublished2016
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Johnson,MalcolmLewis,editorandWalker,JoannaKate,editor.
Title:Spiritualdimensionsofageing/[editedby]MalcolmJohnson,
UniversityofBristolandUniversityofBath,JoannaWalker,Universityof
Southampton.
Description:1[edition].|NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2016.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2016026907|ISBN9781107092570(hardback:alk.paper)
|ISBN9781107465848(pbk.:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Aging–Religiousaspects.
Classification:LCCBL65.A46S652016|DDC204/.40846–dc23LCrecord
availableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2016026907
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Contents
Listof Contributors page vii
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xiv
1 Spirited Ageing 1
malcolm johnson and joanna walker
Part I The Spiritual Journey of Ageing 11
2 Spirituality and Ageing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 13
robert c. atchley
3 Ageing and Spirituality across Faiths and Cultures 32
elizabeth mackinlay
4 Stagesof the Soul and Spirituality in Later Life 51
harry r. moody
5 Aesop’sFables asSpiritual Touchstonesfor Ageing 69
w. andrew achenbaum
Part II Cultures of the Spirit in Modernity 85
6 Religion, Belief and Spirituality in Old Age:
How They Change 87
vern bengtson and malcolm johnson
7 Ritual and Memories ofRitual in Older People’s Lives:
Contrasts between Eastern and WesternEurope 106
peter g. coleman
8 Religious Ritualand Practice in Old Age 123
ellen idler
v
vi Contents
9 New CulturesofAgeing: The Impact ofthe Third Age on
Issues ofSpirituality and Religion 141
paul higgs
PartIII Searching for Meaning in Later Life 155
10 Religion, Faith, Belief and Disbelief in Old Age:
“Afull-hearted evensong” 157
susan a. eisenhandler
11 Finding Meaningand Sustaining Purpose in Later Life 179
albert jewell
12 Spirituality, Biographical Review and Biographical Pain
at the End ofLife in Old Age 198
malcolm johnson
13 Embracing Contraries: The Spiritual Quest as aLifelong
Process 215
ronald j. manheimer
PartIV Meeting SpiritualNeeds in Older Age 233
14 Conversation Matters 235
ann morisy
15 SpiritualDevelopmentin LaterLife:A Learning
Experience? 249
joanna walker
16 Reimagining the Theology ofOld Age 270
james woodward
17 Pressing towards the Finishing Line:Supporting Older
People on Their Final Lap 283
keith r. albans
Index 299
Contributors
w.andrewachenbaumis Professor of History and Social Work at the
UniversityofHoustonandholdsadjunctappointmentsintheSchoolof
Public Health, the McGovern School for the Humanities and Ethics,
andtheInstituteforSpiritualityandHealthatTexasMedicalCenter.
Hehaswrittenfivebooksandeditedelevenothers,mostrecently,Older
Americans; Vital Communities: A Bold Vision for Ageing Societies. His
biography of Robert Butler (with Harry R. Moody) Robert N. Butler,
MD:VisionaryofHealthyAging,waspublishedin2013.
keithr.albansisanordainedMethodistminister,withadoctoratein
chemical entomology. He is Director of Chaplaincy and Spirituality
for Methodist Homes (MHA) and leads an innovative programme of
services for residents in more than ninety care homes across the UK.
He writes liturgies for older people and on spirituality in old age and
with Malcolm Johnson he co-edited God, Me and Being Very Old:
Stories and Spirituality in Later Life.
robertc.atchleyisProfessorEmeritusofGerontology,MiamiUniver-
sity,Oxford,Ohio.Heisauthorofthestandardtext,SocialForcesand
Aging (ten editions); Understanding American Society; The Sociology of
Retirement;Aging: Continuity and Change; Continuity and Adaptation in
Aging: Creating Positive Experiences and most recently Spirituality and
Aging.
vernbengtsonis Senior Researcher in the Edward R. Roybal Institute
on Aging of the School of Social Work, and AARP/University Pro-
fessor Emeritus of Gerontology, Leonard Davis School of Gerontol-
ogy, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. A former
President of the Gerontological Society of America, he has published
seventeen books, including The Changing Contract across Generations
(with Achenbaum); Intergenerational Linkages: Hidden Connections in
American Society; How Families Still Matter: A Longitudinal Study
(with Biblarz and Roberts) and Handbook of Theories of Aging (third
vii
viii ListofContributors
edition, 2016). His most recent book, Families and Faith: How Reli-
gion Is (and Isn’t) Passed Down across Generations (with Putney and
Harris) has achieved international recognition.
peterg.colemanis Professor Emeritus of Psychogerontology, at the
University of Southampton, UK. He is interested in the challenges of
advanced old age and in quality of late life, as well as in both depres-
sion and dementia. He takes a lifespan perspective to the study of
ageingandisinterestedinearlierlifeantecedentsoflatelifebehaviour.
HisbooksincludeAgeingandReminiscenceProcesses:SocialandClinical
Implications; (with Ann O’Hanlon) Ageing and Development: Theories
andResearch;andmostrecentlyBeliefandAgeing:SpiritualPathwaysin
later life. and Self and Meaning in the Lives of Older People (with Ivani-
Chalian and Robinson).
susan eisenhandler is Professor of Sociology at the University of
Connecticut. She has studied ageing and belief as well as social-
psychological and contextual features of later life. A unifying motif
for work on driving, relationships with adult children and health
among community-dwelling elderly is the location of identity within
situatedandbiographicalexperiences.Facetsofeverydaylifepredom-
inate. She and L. Eugene Thomas co-edited Aging and the Religious
Dimension and Religion, Belief and Spirituality in Late Life. Following
publication of Keeping the Faith in Later Life, a seven-year qualitative
study ongardening and well-being was completed.
paulhiggsisProfessoroftheSociologyofAgeingatUniversityCollege
London. He has published widely in both social gerontology and
medical sociology. His research interests in ageing include the third
age;embodiment;identity;generations,cohortsandageing;consump-
tionandlaterlife;andinfluencesofqualityoflifeinearlyold ageand
retirement. His books include (with Gilleard) Cultures of Ageing: Self,
Citizenship and the Body; Medical Sociology and Old Age: Towards a
SociologyofHealthinLaterLife;andThePowerofSilver:AgeandIdentity
Politics in the21stCentury.
ellenidleris Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of
Sociology at Emory University, Atlanta, USA. She is the Director of
Emory’s Religion and Public Health Collaborative, and holds faculty
appointments in the Graduate Division of Religion, and the Depart-
ment of Epidemiology in the Rollins School of Public Health. She
studies the impact of religious participation on health, the timing of
death and end oflife decisions among the elderly.She is the editor of
Religion as aSocial Determinant of Public Health 2014.