Aging and the Religious Dimension

L. EUGENE THOMAS is Professor of Human Development and Family Relations at the University of Connecticut. As a Fulbright Research Fellow, he conducted research on life satisfaction and spirituality of elderly in India and England. The results of this research are summarized in the book he edited, Research on Adulthood and Aging: The Human Sciences Perspective. He is presently studying the life transitions and meaning construction among elderly born in this country and Russian elderly who recently immigrated to this country. SUSAN A. EISENHANDLER is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut. A former Administration on Aging trainee, she conducts research on the social construction of identity in old age, and her current research is focused on life transitions and the construction of meaning in the lives of the elderly.

Figures and Tables Foreword by Harry R. Moody Introduction: A Human Science Perspective on Aging and the Religious Dimension by L. Eugene Thomas and Susan A. Eisenhandler Theoretical Perspectives Values, Psychosocial Development, and the Religious Dimension by L. Eugene Thomas From Loneliness to Solitude: Religious and Spiritual Journeys in Late Life by Barbara Payne and Susan McFadden Case Studies From Sacred to Secular: Memoir of a Midlife Transition toward Spiritual Freedom by Richard B. Griffin The Way of the Religious Renouncer: Power through Nothingness by L. Eugene Thomas Historical and Literary Studies Aging and Spiritual Empowerment: The Stories of Oedipus and David by Stephen Bertman and W. Andrew Achenbaum Fairy Tales and the Spiritual Dimensions of Aging by Allan B. Chinen Spiritual Well-being, Maturity, and Aging: Biblical Illustrations by J. Gordon Harris Honor Thy Mother: Aging Women in the Jewish Tradition by Dena Shenk Participant Observation A Social Milieu for Spirituality in the Lives of Older Adults by Susan A. Eisenhandler Life Narrative and Spiritual Journey of Elderly Male Religious by Edward J. Quinnan Interview and Survey Research Generativity as Pragmatic Spirituality by Robert L. Rubinstein Religiosity and Fear of Death in Non-Normative Aging by Sheldon S. Tobin, Elise N. Fullmer, and Gregory C. Smith Gero-Transcendence: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration by Lars Tornstam For Further Reading Index