Introduction

In this issue, we belatedly celebrate 60 years of JORH with the help of three independent reviewers from India, Malaysia, and the USA, who (along with the Editor-in-Chief) have prepared a bibliometric analysis of JORH’s articles from inception to 2021 (Carey et al., 2023). The 60th year of JORH was barely celebrated at the actual time of its jubilee, as much was occurring given the effects of COVID-19, necessitating a delay in any celebration (JORH, 2021a, b). The bibliometric analysis of JORH in this issue provides an insightful analysis into JORH’s publication trends, citation records, prominent themes, authors’ collaboration and its aggregate and substantial contribution to the field of religion and health over 60 years.

This issue also reexamines chaplaincy—previously covered in JORH (JORH, 2022). Despite some secularists who are strongly opposed to this institutional ministry, chaplaincy research is nevertheless thriving and clearly proving the benefits of chaplaincy pastoral and spiritual care. The outcomes of this chaplaincy research challenges the rationalist philosophies and sabotaging activities of those secularists who deliberately or subtly discriminate against people needing or wanting the provision of pastoral and spiritual care interventions—particularly for people with religious affiliations—whether they are in hospitals, aged care facilities, welfare, mental health care, educational institutions, refugee centers, correctional facilities, the military, police force, firefighter or paramedical services. It is important to note that JORH is not the only journal testifying to the breadth of chaplaincy research and its institutional value (e.g., Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy in the US; Health and Social Care Chaplaincy in the UK).

The second main topic in this issue concerns the Jewish faith tradition. Over the years JORH has presented numerous articles relating to Judaism. For the first time, with the help of Associate Professors Ezra Gabbay and Jeffery Cohen, JORH has collated twelve articles together in one issue, covering a diverse range of topics, from religious to secular. Thirdly, also for the first time, this issue of JORH considers the people of Ukraine. Despite the hardships of enduring the Russian invasion of their homeland, several academics have contributed articles to inform JORH readers about different aspects of the Russian–Ukraine war, which would otherwise go unheard. We thank guest editor Dr. John Fisher (Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne) for facilitating this section. While only four articles discuss Ukraine, each is a story reflecting the impact of an atrociously evil war; no doubt there will be more articles in subsequent issues.

The fourth topic we revisit is that of COVID-19. Rather than abating, the COVID-19 pandemic (with its numerous variants) continues to spread globally. Thus far, over 12 issues of JORH have now included research relating to COVID-19. It should be of no surprise that the bibliometric analysis presented within this issue identified COVID-19 as one of JORH’s main thematic clusters, namely “Religious Community Responses to COVID-19” (Cluster 11). This cluster identified 681 citations of JORH articles with regard to COVID-19. The articles in this cluster focus on the impact of COVID-19 upon religiosity, the role of clerics and chaplains, as well as pilgrimages and religious tourism during the COVID-19 crisis.

Chaplaincy

As already mentioned, a previous issue of JORH brought together articles relating to chaplaincy for the first time (JORH, 2022). Likewise, this JORH issue presents a variety of chaplaincy research concerning the: (1) relationships between the number of chaplain visits and hospitalized patient characteristics; (2) embedding chaplaincy services in primary care for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers; (3) chaplaincy support of ICU survivorship with clinicians; (4) an ICU expansion of a novel chaplain intervention, “This is My Story,” to support interdisciplinary medical teams delivering care to non-communicative patients; (5) a comparative study of chaplain and paramedic perspectives regarding the role and value of chaplains in an Australian ambulance service; (6) healthcare chaplaincy and spiritual care policy in Aotearoa New Zealand; (7) ethical conflicts in healthcare chaplaincy among protestant chaplains in Switzerland, Germany and Austria; (8) Muslim chaplains—their authority, function and identity; and (9) a qualitative content analysis of Danish hospital chapel guest books.

In this section on chaplaincy, we also revisit the topic of moral injury—which formed a special JORH issue in 2021 (JORH, 2021b). Wesley Fleming presents his “Moral Injury Experience Wheel: An Instrument for Identifying Moral Emotions and Conceptualizing the Mechanisms of Moral Injury” which may prove very helpful in assisting chaplains with the recognition and treatment of moral injury. We also congratulate Dr. Fleming for this article being awarded by the JORH Editors as one of the “JORH Articles of the Year 2022”. Lastly, there have been a number of articles over the years published in JORH with respect to Anton Boisen, we conclude this section to reconsider Boisen as a “psychiatric survivor” or “mad prophet”—either way, his contribution to chaplaincy—particularly mental health care chaplaincy—will always be considered invaluable.

Judaism

While Judaism has a very small number of adherents compared to other world religions (approximately 0.2% of the world population), it has had a profound and longstanding influence on Western civilization and world history. Moreover, this small population is also extremely diverse in terms of its religious, ethnic, social and cultural characteristics and in its geographical spread (see Table 1). These traits make the study of Judaism’s relevance to health and illness both complicated and fascinating. As you will observe from the articles in this issue, scholars have examined a myriad of different denominations within Judaism from Haredi (sometimes called Ultra-orthodox) through to Reform and secular Judaism. Our JORH articles cover three main themes (1) clinical, (2), biblical and (3) various Jewish responses to COVID-19.

Table 1 Countries with the estimated largest Jewish population (2021)
Full size table

In the clinical realm, articles consider: (1) whether Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews suffer more than secular Israeli Jews from obesity; (2) the symptoms of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in Orthodox and Secular Jewish communities in Israel; (3) the cardiovascular implications of social and religious practices associated with donning phylacteries; (4) the determinants of the negative consequences of secondary exposure to trauma in caregivers of holocaust survivors in Poland. In the biblical realm, we present research studies that have: (5) compared the biblical Job with Zeno the stoic; (6) the sufferings of Job as an icon of postmodernity with respect to human beings living in a consumerist paradise; and (7) eating and drinking narratives in Biblical-Rabbinic versus Graeco-Roman Writings.

In the COVID-19 realm, articles in this section examine: (8) the religious beliefs, trust in public figures, and adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines among American Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews; (9) the religious doctrine and attitudes toward vaccination in Jewish law; (10) sociocultural and religious perspectives toward the COVID-19 pandemic in the Haredi Jewish community; (11) religious minorities’ perceptions of official COVID-19 health guidelines with respect to ultra-orthodox society in Israel; and lastly and rather sadly, (12) health, religiosity and hatred—a study of the impact of COVID-19 on world Jewry. Additional articles relating to COVID-19 are also presented in a subsequent section in this issue (see COVID-19).

Ukraine

As previously noted in an earlier issue, both Springer Science Media and the JORH Editors fully condemned the unwarranted and unnecessary Russian invasion of Ukraine “regressing the world to a twentieth-century military and humanitarian catastrophe similar to WWII” (Carey et al, 2022, p. 921). This unlawful invasion has resulted in thousands of refugees spread across more than 20 different countries—the majority, however, have migrated to Poland (Statistica, 2023). The specific topics covered herein include: (1) The Catholic Church in Poland’s assistance to refugees from Ukraine during Russia’s invasion; (2) Media religiosity and war coping strategies of young people in Ukraine; (3) PTSD as a moderator of the relationship between the distribution of personal resources and spiritual change among participants of hostilities in Ukraine; (4) the role of pets in preserving the emotional and spiritual well-being of Ukrainian residents during Russian hostilities.

COVID-19

To understand the depth of struggle experienced within the hospital sector—and particularly in New York—it is well worth reading the book “Desperate Hours” (Brenner, 2022). A review has been provided in this issue by former JORH editor Curtis Hart (2023) to introduce you to the story of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and all that has been suffered by its staff and patients. As a helpful overview of the current status of COVID-19 in relation to religion, this section commences with a well-presented systematic review in two parts: “Turning to religion during COVID-19” Part I and Part II, both of which provide a meta-analysis and meta-regression of studies on the relationship between religious coping and mental health during COVID-19.

These are then followed by: (1) the Polish Catholic Church in Martin Coronado, Buenos Aires, and its role in the life of the Argentinian Polish community during COVID-19; (2) face mask acceptability for communal religious worship during COVID-19 in the UK—results from the CONFESS study; (3) Indonesian Ulema Council Fatwa on religious activities during COVID-19: an investigation of Muslim attitudes and practices; (4) transmission analysis of COVID-19 outbreaks associated with places of worship in Arkansas; (5) experiences of patients in Turkey with breast cancer throughout COVID-19 and their coping mechanisms; (6) Asian hate, minority stress, and religious coping: a study of Asian and Asian American adults in the USA during COVID-19; (7) religiosity and the naturalness bias in drug and vaccine choices; and finally, (8) coping with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak: the contribution of self-control skills and religiosity in Arab Israeli–Palestinian students in Israel.

Call for Papers—Religion, Spirituality and Suicide

While the Editors welcome all topics from potential and regular authors, we would particularly welcome submissions regarding an upcoming special issue on suicide. Please refer to the link: https://www.springer.com/journal/10943/updates/23471166. If you would like to make a submission, please submit via the Editorial Manager on the JORH web site: https://www.springer.com/journal/10943/submission-guidelines.