Editorial: Spirituality and Social Work: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Over the past three decades there has been extensive exploration of spirituality and religion in its connection with social work. Religion has played a central role in the development of social work as a profession. Historically social work originated under the inspiration of the Judeo-Christian religious traditions of its founders. Religious ideas and teachings have influenced the development of social work concept in general and the principles and values in particular. There have been attempts to establish that the major religions show compatibility with social work. Thus religion has close connections with social work, workers and exponents of religions often perform functions complimentary and they are significant sources of referrals to each other. The social work profession in the process of helping the needy often makes use of the resources available with the religious organizations. Spirituality for its connections with social work has been a matter of discussion throughout the development of social work. During the last two decades there is promising literature on the subject of spirituality in social work and spiritually sensitive social work practice. In the context of social work there has been explanation in which the terms spirituality and religion are commonly used spirituality. As noted by scholars, spirituality involves understanding the interconnectedness of self with others and with the universe