This issue of the Journal begins with an important new concept, the Life Tasks Model. As a way of viewing and understanding the aging process, this article offers a refreshing new perspective. The second article is equally important as a new instrument for spiritual self-assessment. The remaining 4 articles reflect aspects of faith and spirituality that bring these two more theoretical articles down to practice.
Through the past 20 years that I have been editing this journal, the combination of academic and practice oriented articles have attempted to offer the reader both direction for the field as well as practical advice to meet the challenges in the real world. During this time, the predominant language has moved from religion, to spirituality. Religion remains the institutional resource, but spirituality has taken over as the personal direction of the older adults. Surveys suggest that this is less consistent for the oldest old who still think of both as religion, but with the baby boom busting into golden pond, this distinction will be the paradigm of the future. The 1971 political compromise term, “spiritual well-being” is all but lost from the vocabulary of the field. I look forward to seeing where the field will move into the future. We serve an important need.