Mediating the Spirit: Machines, Protocols, and Policies for the Mediation of Spirituality in the Medical Field

Abstract The propose of this chapter is to analyse a context of relation between health and spirituality still underestimated by social scientist of religion, I refer to a heterogeneous set of actors that involves: international networks of researchers from the health Science mainstream, the World Health Organization, research promotion agencies and public managers, all committed to inscribing spirituality as a factor of health promotion, as a dimension of human health or, as an element of necessary clinical attention. The aim is to analyze the way in which spirituality has emerged (and has been constituted) in the medical sciences field from three domains of its production: political, clinical and medical-scientific. I conclude by indicating that, despite differences in the ways of instituting spirituality, these formulations are stabilized in the consideration that spirituality is a health issue.