Mindfulness, Religion, and Healing

3 credits · Divinity School

Mindfulness seems to be everywhere – a “spiritual therapeutic” promoted as helpful for nearly every facet of our lives from hospitals to basketball courts, from the classroom to the boardroom. But where do mindfulness practices come from exactly and is their current widespread use really “healthy” for society? In this class we will explore multiple histories for contemporary mindfulness practices, their origins in both Buddhist and U.S. liberal religious traditions; their current use as healing techniques and in other spheres of society; and the heated debates that now surround them on issues such as secularization, cultural appropriation, and social consciousness/amnesia. [3] Mr. Helderman