Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds., "Religion, Spirituality and Public Health" (British Academy, 2025)

In this episode of New Books in Indian Religions, hosts Dr. Raj Balperon and co-editors Drs. Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe discuss their groundbreaking open-access volume, 'Religion, Spirituality and Public Health,' published by the British Academy. The book emerges from a post-COVID conference that sought to bridge the gap between religious epistemologies and biomedical public health, emphasizing how diverse communities make health decisions through complex, often overlapping systems of belief and experience. The conversation explores how religious and spiritual worldviews are not irrational or opposed to science, but instead involve systematic reasoning, lived practice, and pragmatic integration—exemplified by case studies of British African Pentecostal nurses, Tamil Nadu’s traditional fever management, Afro-Brazilian spiritual healing during critical illness, and the role of Ayurveda and yoga in colonial-era code-switching. The editors argue for a shift from binary thinking (science vs. religion) to recognizing multiple, coexisting epistemic frameworks, advocating for public health policies that honor individual and community-based truth-making processes. They stress the importance of listening to patient narratives, acknowledging epistemic injustice, and fostering inclusive policymaking that values lived experience as a legitimate form of knowledge. The episode underscores the book’s relevance beyond academia, calling for greater dialogue between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. It highlights the concept of 'code-switching' not as deception but as a sophisticated, integrative way of navigating multiple realities—spiritual and material, personal and professional. The editors emphasize that truth is not monolithic but emerges through processes of coherence, experience, and context. With the book fully open access and accompanied by conference videos, the goal is to democratize knowledge and inspire more compassionate, culturally responsive public health approaches. Ultimately, the discussion invites listeners to reconsider assumptions about rationality, belief, and healing in a pluralistic world.