well-regarded researchers in this maturing field... Their analysis of more than 1200
studies and 400 reviews is meticulous and balanced.... This is an unparalleled resource not only for physicians with an interest in the relationship between religion and health but perhaps even more for those who doubt its significance. All physicians should consider the possibility that something so meaningful to a large number of patients might also be good for their health. (pp. 465-6)

the authors have done a very thorough overview of all we know at this time. Clearly spirituality and religion affect growth and development, the creation of pathology and the treatment of disease. They have not got the total answer. However, they have laid a ground work for understanding a complex set of issues. They review those studies that exist, critically interpret their findings, and offer new ways of "asking the question." They hypothesise the possible mechanisms, and suggest new directions.
(p. 688)

are not entirely encouraging: they suggest that although the relationship between health and spirituality is clearly worthy of serious study, much of the research done in the field to date has been shoddy. Koenig and his collaborators also go to great lengths to educate the reader about negative effects of belief and orthodoxies... such as the fear that disease is punishment for sin, and that assistance is preferably derived through miracles rather than through medicine. (p. 166)

Are there really this many studies? What are these studies like? Well, here's one of them that qualifies by Koenig's

Harold G. Koenig

Harold G. Koenig is a psychiatrist on the faculty of Duke University. His ideas have been covered in Newsweek and other news media with regard to religion, spirituality and health, a focus of some of his research and clinical practice....

 standards.... The authors reported differences between Jewish and non-Jewish Cleveland attorneys in the incidence of some index of cardiovascular disease. That's it.... So that's how numbers like 1200 arise, because studies like this get included. (pp. 10-11)

A growing number of well-conceived and methodologically rigorous studies have been conducted to examine if religious beliefs and behaviors might be related to health benefits or health risks.... No book, however, has [until now] thoroughly reviewed all the empirical studies and reviews in this area.... The authors maintain scholarly neutrality and let the research evidence speak for itself.... The book is surprisingly readable for a 700+ page scholarly review.... The authors should be commended on an extraordinary job on this soon to be classic text.(pp. 790-1)

the biggest problem, in my view, with the line of reasoning represented by this book [is that] "Health" is the ego's agenda. It should not be conflated with concepts such as doing God's will or taking one's proper place in a divine pattern.... A cultural product of present-day American behavioral science, this book renders unto the Caesar of controlled studies.... it fits the current pattern of assimilation and loses the Spirit of the message. (pp. 1619-20)

now more than ever there is a need for religion and science (and specifically health science) to be in conversation with one another.... This volume is a significant contribution to the conversation and one which can be of great value in a variety of church settings.... The information contained in this volume provides the background necessary to carry on an education program that is both theologically and intellectually (scientifically) sound.... Guidance for previously unthought-of pastoral issues comes out from the studies. (p. 798)

I have used this book successfully as part of the assigned readings in undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate courses on religion and health.... [it] is accessible to educated nonprofessionals as well as professionals in religion and medicine.... It is not, however, an introduction to the controversy surrounding the field. The authors do not explicitly argue for the religion–health relation; they are content to let the weight of evidence as they present it speak for itself.... For a more critical discussion, the reader must look to other sources. But anyone planning a course or introducing a colleague to the general field of religion and health should make this book available. (pp. 95-6)

This is a dip-and-dig book.... I spent a week just leafing through to savor the gems.... One day I read about depression... another delinquency, then cardiovascular disease... I spent a weekend on research methods and measurement tools and another weekend on priorities for future research. Yum. If you are looking for a doctoral project or an advisor, here is the place for you to dip and-dig. (p. 365)

See also

• Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality for Use in Health Research
  Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality (book)
  Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality for Use in Health Research is a report, originally published in 1999, by a Fetzer Institute / National Institute on Aging working group on the measurement of religion/spirituality. A revised version was published in 2003 that incorporated a...
  
   (1999 book)
• Relationship between religion and science‎

External links

• Description by publisher and online scroll to chapter-preview links for Handbook of Religion and Health