Health and Religion

Abstract

With its origins rooted in the earliest thinkers of the discipline, the sociological study of religion and health is a theoretically and empirically significant area of contemporary research. One body of work shows physical health and mortality to be partly determined by the religious practices of individuals and groups. The other shows the role of religious beliefs and institutions in helping individuals face the experiences of serious illness and death. Keywords: coping; Emile Durkheim; health; religion; social support