Spiritual Paradigms: A Response to Concerns Within Social Work in Relation to the Inclusion of Spirituality

Abstract

The current exploration to incorporating spirituality within social work has left many unanswered questions. This paper explores four identified spiritual paradigms articulated and authenticated through the survey of literature of three spiritual ideologies (Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism) using the process of meta-triangulation. This paper offers the beginnings of a possible answer to some of the central questions, through the articulation of spiritual paradigms that already exist in a language and format that will make them accessible to social work.

Keywords:

• spiritual paradigms
• spirituality
• social work
• Islam
• Buddhism
• Hinduism