What Do You Believe In?
Special, Guest-Edited Issue on Religion, Healing, ad Public Health

"You can't hide from religion in Georgia. If you don't go after it with a positive agenda, it will come after you."
Gary Gunderson, Director, Interfaith Health Program

"To understand our patients fully, we need to understand their beliefs, or we will not be effective as their healers."
Lori Arviso Alvord, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Dartmouth Medical School

New Perspectives on Health and Healing
Can Science and Religion Work Together?

An integrated exploration
A three-pronged approach to health, healing, and spirituality

A cross-cultural perspective
P. Venugopala Rao, Associate Professor of Physics

Mrs. Bradley's body
Carla Gober, Registered Nurse and Doctoral Candidate, Graduate Division of Religion

Spirituality and Modern Medicine
Science on a wing and prayer?

Between Patient and Healer
Four anthropological observations

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Sponsorship from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley enabled a three-pronged approach to an integrated exploration of health, healing, and spirituality in the 2002-2003 academic year at Emory. This integrated model allows for interdisciplinary faculty development, direct student benefit, and a public forum in which to synthesize and explore the ideas and projects developed throughout the year.

•Weekly seminar Faculty and graduate students read and discussed healing and religion from a variety of perspectives, including anthropological, public health, medical, biological,
theological, sociological, historical,and cross-cultural.

• Undergraduate course The faculty/graduate student seminar inspired ideas and materials for an upper-level course on Mind, Medicine, and Healing. Students will present their research projects from the course at a public symposium in April.

• Symposium Several authors whose work was read both in the seminar and the undergraduate course will come to Emory for a two-day symposium in April. Students will present their own work and continue discourse already begun with these writers via email.