New Books Network Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds., "Religion, Spirituality and Public Health" (British Academy, 2025)
Apr 9, 2026
Suzanne Newcombe, a sociologist of religion researching healing and epistemic pluralism, and Karen O'Brien-Kop, a humanities scholar of lived religion, discuss how diverse ways of knowing shaped COVID responses. They explore marginal traditions from Pentecostal nursing to Siddha medicine and online anti-vax worlds. Conversations cover code-switching between biomedical and spiritual logics, transnational flows, and why everyday religious reasoning matters for public health.
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Lived Religious Epistemology Shapes Health Decisions
- Epistemology of lived religion matters for health choices and policy engagement.
- Karen O'Brien-Kop argues everyday religious reasoning uses criteria, verification, and evidence that shape vaccine and healthcare decisions.
NHS Nurse Privately Prays While Delivering Care
- A British African Pentecostal NHS nurse privately combined prayer with clinical work by praying in the changing room and sending healing to patients.
- Interview in Abel Ugba's chapter shows divine healing was hierarchically privileged yet did not reject biomedicine.
Coma Patient Experienced Dual Medical And Spiritual Healing
- A Brazilian COVID patient experienced simultaneous hospital care and a vivid spiritual realm with healers and rituals during coma.
- Joana Bahia's interviewee credited recovery to both biomedical treatment and spiritual interventions happening at once.
