Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: The making of contemporary spirituality -- Definitions of spirituality : ninety-two and still counting -- How do I become spiritual? : practice as a category -- Virtues and values of spirituality -- The intellectual ecology of spirituality : psychology -- The intellectual ecology of spirituality : religious studies -- The intellectual ecology of spirituality : sociology of religion -- Niches for spirituality : health care and Rx spirituality -- Niches for spirituality : spirituality in the workplace -- Niches for spirituality : recreation to escape the iron cage -- Conclusion: Spirituality brings the change : a critique.

In The Ecology of Spirituality, Lucy Bregman surveys the many and varied religious, psychological, and sociological definitions of spirituality on offer. Spirituality has been made and remade many times over in the hope of fitting it to some new cultural need. Bregman argues that a better understanding of spirituality is instead rooted in specific professions and practices, and she demonstrates that it is not an irrevocably ambiguous pop cultural phenomenon, but is embodied in historic virtues and practices of a craft.--Back cover.