Relational Spirituality and Social Caregiving‪.‬

The social work profession emerged in part from concerns for charity and justice rooted in the religious doctrine of love for one's neighbor (Loewenberg, 1988; Marty, 1980). Moreover, religion and spirituality continue to play an important role in motivating people to enter the social work profession (Canda & Furman, 1999). Little is known, however, about how spirituality helps to sustain social services providers and social reformers. Thus, the study discussed in this article explored the role of spirituality in supporting and sustaining the work of social services and social justice. The term "social caregiving" is used in this article to refer to both social services and social reform. Traditionally social services have been defined as help for those in need, whereas social reform has been defined as action to prevent need and suffering (Chambers, 1963). Because need and suffering are often the result of injustice and oppression, social services aim to ameliorate the consequences of injustice, and social reform aims to restore or institute social justice. Although the distinction between service and reform is useful analytically, in practice the two forms of action are often intertwined and can be summarized as social caregiving.