Nursing the spirit : care, public life, and the dignity of vulnerable strangers

Abstract

n response to complaints about their impersonal nature, hospitals and other modern care facilities have recently sought to rehumanize their operations by incorporating spirituality under the banner of holistic care. This development has fueled debates among intellectuals over the compatibility of science and spirituality. Missing from these exchanges, however, are the workers who directly care for patients and are expected to uphold their spiritual dignity while carrying out the dictates of secular science