Medicine | Explorations Media

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 6: Putting It All Together @TheHighCalling

Our five-part series on the work of Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund focused on her research into what scientists really think about religion. It’s been a compelling and fascinating series.

In part one of the series, we introduced Ecklund and her work on this topic. We learned that she has also investigated women’s presence in physics, feminist women in the Catholic church, how pediatricians and pediatric oncologists grapple with religion, how new immigrants bring change to Christian churches in America, and how religion shapes the political engagement of immigrant communities. …

Read the whole summary at The High Calling.

Posted on June 16, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, evolution, Faith, Family, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Social Action, stem cell research, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 5: International Attitudes @TheHighCalling

In her book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund focused exclusively on the views of American scientists at elite universities. Now, with a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Ecklund will spend the next three years exploring how scientists view religion and how religion influences scientists in different national and cultural contexts. She says her Religion Among Scientists in International Context study is the first of its kind, and she’ll work on it in conjunction with two colleagues, Kirstin Matthews and Steven Lewis.

“With seemingly constant developments in the areas of science and religion, these two subjects have taken an important role on the global stage,” Ecklund said. “Our team can think of no better way to discover how the international science community negotiates religion than to go straight to the source and study scientists themselves.”

The notion that science is incompatible with religion and culpable for secularization is a common one, Ecklund explained. It causes tension “on a global scale as scholars argue that religion hinders the progress and acceptance of science in the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia.” …

Read the whole article at The High Calling.

Posted on May 28, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, Faith, Family, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, religion, Science, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 4: Worshiping Science @TheHighCalling

“There are generally two sides to every lovers’ quarrel and this is true in the argument between theology, once known as the “Queen of the Sciences,” and modern science, now the undisputed king. In two previous articles about Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund’s book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, we looked at what people of faith sometimes contribute to the impasse. In this article, we’ll briefly consider what role scientists play. The scientists themselves provide clues.

Whether they were Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu, believing scientists told Ecklund that they disapproved of an ‘extreme form of scientism that sees science as the only way of gaining access to truth or reality in the world.’

Science, for example, doesn’t provide a rational reason to care for students, they told her, and it doesn’t provide a framework for knowing what to do with their science or how to evaluate its ethics and impact on the world. …”

Read the whole introduction at The High Calling.

Posted on April 28, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Dallas Willard, Democracy, Education, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ethics, Faith, Family, Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Laity Leadership Institute, Leadership, Medicine, Moral Knowledge, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Scientism, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 3: Myth Busting @TheHighCalling

Would it surprise you to learn that only two percent of scientists are evangelical, or are willing to identify as such?

This is what Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund found when she surveyed approximately 1700 natural and social scientists at top U.S. research universities and then conducted in-depth interviews with 275 of the survey respondents.

“In the interview portion, it would sometimes come out that folks had beliefs that would be considered evangelical, such as belief in the efficacy of the resurrection and the authority of scripture, but on the survey they would not identify as evangelical when I asked if they identify with a specific religious label,” Ecklund told The High Calling.

She attributes their hesitancy to the “fraught relationship” evangelicalism has had with politics and science in the public sphere.

“It’s very difficult for scientists to align with a specific faith community when they feel it takes a negative stance towards scientific research,” she said. “Those who are not people of faith often have never seen a person of faith who is a committed Christian and an evolutionist, for example. I don’t think that position is very widely talked about, and so it is difficult for scientists to see how it could be a possibility.” …

Read the rest at The High Calling.

Posted on April 14, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Karl Ecklundelaine howard ecklundHoustonImmigrant ReligionimmigrationKorean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic LifeLaity Leadership InstituteLarge Haldron Collider CERN expirementMedicinepedi, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Religion + Life with Elaine H. Ecklund, Part 1 @TheHighCalling

“Social scientists are always thinking of big theoretical projects. As a social scientist, I’m very interested in how individuals who are different from the institutions that constrain them bring change to those institutions.” That’s how Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Elaine Howard Ecklund described the underlying theme of her work in a recent interview with The High Calling.

Ecklund’s research thus far has focused on the often contentious areas of religion, immigration, science, and culture. Her 2010 book, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, for example, confronted the popular notion that scientists are antagonistic to religion. We’ll study its content in three upcoming articles. …

Read the whole introduction at The High Calling.

Posted on March 18, 2012 by cascheller

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Bioethics, Books, Christianity, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Karl Ecklundelaine howard ecklundHoustonImmigrant ReligionimmigrationKorean American Evangelicals: New Models for Civic LifeLaity Leadership InstituteLarge Haldron Collider CERN expirementMedicinepedi, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, The High Calling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

What I Wrote This Week @UrbanFaith: February 13 – February 17

On Location at Whitney’s Farewell: What reporting on location at Whitney Houston’s semi-private, gospel-filled funeral taught me about spiritual battles, grace, and celebrity.
Marriage Is for Black People, Too: Ralph Richards Banks’ book ‘Is Marriage for White People?’ made him the target of angry critics. Now, the author has his say about interracial dating, the link between fewer marriages and the crisis in black communities, and his take on conservative scholar Charles Murray’s latest book on class and race.
Obama Birth Control Compromise Take 2: Activist Lisa Sharon Harper and ethicists Cheryl J. Sanders and Charles C. Camosy weigh in on the Obama administration’s contraception mandate accommodation.

Posted on February 19, 2012 by cascheller

Art, Bioethics, Books, Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Friendship, grief, History, Journalism, Leadership, Medicine, Philosophy, Politics, Public Square, Race, Redemption, Science, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Art, Bioethics, Books, Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Democracy, Education, Entertainment, Ethics, Faith, Family, Friendship, grief, Health Care Reform, History, Is Marriage for White People? Ralph Richard Banks, Journalism, Leadership, Medicine, Obama Contraception compromise, Philosophy, Politics, Public Square, Race, Redemption, Science, Social Action, Technology, Theology, UrbanFaith, UrbanFaith.com, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk, Whitney Houston Funeral

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 6: Holistic Mental Health @TheHighCalling

When my son first began exhibiting symptoms of anxiety and depression as a sophomore in high school, my husband and I both worked at a California mega-church whose leaders openly preached against psychiatry and psychology.

The message reached a wide audience— from the pulpit, over radio, through books, and at conferences—thus cementing in place a culture in which getting professional help for mental and emotional suffering was discouraged and stigmatized.

This was a new phenomenon for us, one that may have delayed our son getting the help he needed. After I heard about the third suicide of a young Christian that I knew back home in New Jersey, however, I no longer cared what my church community thought. I knew my son needed help and was determined to get it for him.

Nonetheless, I was concerned that the mental health practitioners who treated him would respect his tender faith and the spiritual dimension of his suffering, some of which was directly related to our family’s decision to respond to a vocational ministry calling with a cross-country move and to the culture of the church where that calling was initially lived out. …

Read the whole article at TheHighCalling.org.

Posted on February 4, 2012 by cascheller

Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Faith, Family, Leadership, Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Redemption, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging, Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Dan Blazer M.D., Depression, Faith, Family, Freud vs. God, Geriatric Psychiatry, Health, Leadership, Medicine, mental illness, Psychiatry, Psychology, Redemption, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

A Quarter Century of Jersey Shore HIV/AIDS Response @NJShorePatch

Tyler Alyxander and Ina Kaplan at "A Night of Illusion" fundraiser.

I well remember when the thought that I could have AIDS first occurred to me. It was 1986 and I was newly married. I had gotten pregnant by an East African man two years earlier and my husband had fallen in love with both me and my baby.

All seemed well, until I began paying attention to the news that AIDS had first appeared in sub-saharan Africa among heterosexuals. I dutifully got tested, then waited anxiously for the phone call that told me I was not infected.

Other people I knew heard different news. There were whispers that a high school classmate who had been an intravenous drug user and died of a drug overdose had taken his own life after getting the diagnosis.

It was a scary time, especially for anyone who had been anything but virginal. …

Read the rest at Manasquan Patch.

Posted on January 31, 2012 by cascheller

church life, Community, Culture, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Food, grief, Leadership, Medicine, Public Square, Redemption, Science, Social Action, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

anti-retroviral drugs, Beacon Light Fund, church life, Community, Culture, Education, Ethics, Faith, Family, Food, grief, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, housing, Leadership, Medicine, Miss Gay New Jersey, NJ Shore Patch, Public Square, recession, Redemption, Science, Social Action, The Center Asbury Park, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 5: Social Supports & Storytelling @TheHighCalling

Stories help us make sense of the world. True stories told by our elderly relatives help us understand ourselves, and the telling also helps the storytellers make sense of their lives, says Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Dan Blazer, M.D.

“One of the most critical things a family can do is to try to recognize the value of an older person, and one of the best ways to do that is to get the older person to talk about himself or herself, or maybe write about himself or herself. Then actually pay attention to what they write,” Blazer said when The High Calling talked to him recently. …

Read the whole article at TheHighCalling.org.

Posted on January 29, 2012 by cascheller

church life, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Leadership, Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Redemption, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging, church life, Community, Dan Blazer M.D., Faith, Family, Friendship, Geriatric Psychiatry, Health, Leadership, Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Redemption, social supports, storytelling, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 4: Geriatric Depression @TheHighCalling

Depression causes more disability than any other psychiatric disorder,” Laity Leadership Institute senior fellow Dan Blazer, M.D. said his 2005 book The Age of Melancholy: Major Depression and Its Social Origins. In fact, depression is as disabling or more disabling than diabetes and hypertension, he said, and the World Health Organization estimated that it will be the second leading contributor to the “global burden of disease” by 2025.

Although those born in the later part of the 20th century suffer higher rates of depression than those born earlier, roughly 15 percent of the elderly experience significant symptoms.

A Crossword Puzzle Case Study

When The High Calling interviewed Dr. Blazer last fall, he talked about a patient who is close to 90 years old. The man had called Blazer a few weeks earlier to say he was feeling “terrible,” that he wasn’t sleeping and was losing weight, all of which are symptoms of depression.

The patient also said, “I’m not doing my crossword puzzles.”

“He had been doing crossword puzzles for 80 years,” said Blazer. “All of a sudden he wasn’t doing them. That signals loss of interest, which is another symptom of depression.”

Blazer prescribed medication. When he talked to the patient a few weeks later, he said he was feeling much better.

Blazer asked, “Are you doing your crossword puzzles yet?”

“No,” he replied.

The doctor knew then that the man wasn’t well yet …

Read the whole article at The High Calling.

Posted on January 15, 2012 by cascheller

Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging, Dan Blazer M.D., geriatric depression, Geriatric Psychiatry, Health, Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 3: The Role of Perception in Geriatric Health @TheHighCalling

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV). When it comes to geriatric health, this statement has repeatedly proven true.

“Self-perceptions of older adults about their health and well-being may be at least as important as objective data for predicting the course of their health over time,” Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow Dan Blazer, M.D. wrote in a 2008 article that was published in The Geriatrist.

“Most clinicians treating adults focus on facts: facts about the behaviors of their patients (eg. the number of times a patient gets up at night to use the bathroom), facts about their physiological function (eg. lab values), and facts about their daily function ( eg. activities of daily living). Nevertheless, research has shown over the years that the perceptions of older adults about their health and well-being may be at least as important as facts,” he explained. …

Read the whole article at The High Calling.

Posted on January 8, 2012 by cascheller

Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging, Dan Blazer M.D., Geriatric Psychiatry, Health, Medicine, perception, Psychiatry, Psychology, TheHighCalling, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Lifelong Ocean Grove Resident Takes Helm of Camp Meeting Association @NJShorePatch

Dr. Dale C. Whilden succeeds Scott Rasmussen (who ended his six-year term in mid-October) as president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Whilden is a life-long Ocean Grove resident. He has served as an OGCMA Trustee since 1983 and has chaired both the Development and Program committees. Patch Faith & Family columnist Christine A. Scheller interviewed Whilden about his new role.

Christine A. Scheller: How did you come to be involved with the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA)?

Dr. Dale C. Whilden: I came to Ocean Grove when I was three days old right from the hospital. My parents had purchased a home here back in the mid-1940s. In the early 50s when I was born, we lived here year round for a number of years. Dad was principal of the school here in town, then we had to move to Toms River based on a new job he had as county superintendent of schools. We kept our little summer house here, and so for my entire life I’ve been coming to Ocean Grove every summer. Growing up through the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting programs, the childrens’ programs, the youth programs, Bible studies, beach activities, and choral and dramatic events, all those things over the years has led me to a sense of how important OGCMA has been in my life and in our family’s life as well. That history has certainly been a factor in my wanting to be involved.

Then when I graduated from dental school and did a residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, I couldn’t imagine not opening my dental practice in Ocean Grove. All those years growing up, it was sort of my Shangri La. I’d go to school in Toms River and we’d be there all winter, and then come summer time, this was the place. This was the epitome of my dream escape and it’s worked out very, very well. I think it gives me a good sense of the community and the history of the community. …

Read the whole interview at Manasquan Patch.

Posted on December 20, 2011 by cascheller

Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Democracy, Faith, Family, Friendship, History, Leadership, Medicine, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Christianity, church life, Community, Culture, Dale C. Whilden, Democracy, Faith, Family, Friendship, History, Leadership, Medicine, NJ Shore Patch, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, Public Square, Redemption, Social Action, Technology, Theology, Vocation, Walkin' the Talk

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 6: Holistic Mental Health @TheHighCalling

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 4: Geriatric Depression @TheHighCalling

Aging Well with Dr. Dan Blazer, Part 3: The Role of Perception in Geriatric Health @TheHighCalling

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