Online Vol. 12.2007 

Expanding the Dialogue

Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health builds communications network

By Harold G. Koenig, M.D.

Research in the area of religion, spirituality and health has grown rapidly over the past 10 years. Before the year 2000 and dating back to the 1800's, about 1200 studies had examined the relationship between religion and some aspect of mental health, physical health, or use of health services. Since then there has been a literal explosion of interest. A recent MEDLINE search of the words "religion" and "spirituality" that included academic papers published between 2000 and 2007 came up with 6,827 articles. A number of academic peer-reviewed journals in psychology, sociology, and medicine have devoted entire issues to this topic.

In particular, there has been a large increase in the number of doctoral students doing their dissertations on religion, spirituality and health, and planning to develop academic research or teaching careers in the area. This is a critical time in the development of this young "field." Because it is not yet mainstream, many students, educators, and established researchers are often isolated at academic institutions with few colleagues who share interests in religion, spirituality and health, and so have few opportunities for support and collaboration to further develop those interests. The result has been that young investigators are easily discouraged from pursuing academic careers in this area, and junior or senior researchers have a difficult time finding colleagues with whom to collaborate in research and grant development.

In 2006, the John Templeton Foundation awarded Duke University's Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health a 3-year grant to develop a Community of Scholars and establish an interdisciplinary research network to foster intellectual exchange and collaboration and to serve as a context for the mentoring of promising students, post-docs and young faculty. A specific goal of the grant was to support genuine interdisciplinary engagement across the academic spectrum. Duke University faculty's historical commitment to this field along with strong schools and departments of medicine, divinity, sociology, nursing, psychology and health policy made it a natural setting in which to nurture the field's further development. Dr. Keith Meador, co-director of the Center describes the Center as offering, "a distinctive opportunity at a crucial time in the development of this work in spirituality and health to bring substantive interdisciplinary voices, including theological considerations and rigor, into a common conversation to enhance the conceptual and methodological sophistication of the field."

Grant support was provided to establish the Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health, and for an annual national conference for the Society. The ultimate goal is that the Society will serve the breadth of the spirituality and health community as an independent membership society. Membership in the Society is growing rapidly, and the Center is beginning discussions with research leaders in different parts of the world to establish an international network supported by the Society. A national/international conference is scheduled for June 25-27, 2008, at Duke University, which seeks to emulate other professional conferences with invited plenary speakers and opportunity for participants to present their research in either paper or poster sessions. The conference's keynote speaker will be Dr. Bill Roper, who formerly served as a White House advisor, Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, and Director of the Centers for Disease Control. He is now CEO of University of North Carolina Health Care System and dean of the school of medicine.

This grant supports a post-doctoral research fellowship, weekly journal club meetings for the Duke and UNC academic communities, and a monthly seminar with Visiting Scholars from around the country and world. Thus far speakers have included psychologist Ken Pargament, nursing researcher Elizabeth McKinley from Australia, sociologist Neal Krause from the University of Michigan, and theologian John Swinton from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Speakers for the winter and spring seminars will be sociologist Byron Johnson from Baylor University, epidemiologist and author Jeff Levin, sociologist Ellen Idler from Rutgers University, and others.

The Visiting Scholars participate in the monthly meeting of our Community of Scholars which consist of faculty scholars at Duke and surrounding universities for the purposes of focused discussion and engagement with the core challenges facing the field of spirituality and health. Included in this interdisciplinary group are epidemiologist Dan Blazer, theological ethics professor Allen Verhey, sociologist Linda George, public policy professor Don Taylor, family medicine researcher Lori Carter-Edwards, epidemiologist Bert Kaplan, geriatrician Kimberly Johnson, ethics professor Stanley Hauerwas, pediatrician and medical historian Jeffrey Baker, and others. Meador comments that, "the thoughtfulness and energy of this group is a true gift to the field. I trust that the interdisciplinary synergies of this group in concert with our Visiting Scholars will make a substantial difference in the future of this work."

The goal of these endeavors is to help increase communication and collaboration between interdisciplinary scholars, researchers, educators, and clinicians, both junior and senior, and to foster improved interdisciplinary methodological and conceptual sophistication in future research design, interpretation of findings, and application. While increasing our understanding of the complex relationships between religion, spirituality and health in the context of faith communities as part of a larger vision of public health, this initiative hopes to provide a service to the broader community of interest in the field and set the frame for the spirituality and health field to flourish as an endeavor of research, education, and practice. Meador embodies the hope for the Center and its initiatives commenting that, "we are only beginning to grasp the depth and significance religion and spirituality hold for a better understanding and practice of health and health care. In our work, we hope to be of service in moving the vision and possibilities forward believing that only with the engagement of a broadly representative community of scholars with a commitment to this work will we see the full fruits of the investment so many have already made to these intersections of religion, spirituality, and health."

Harold G. Koenig, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org

Marby Sparkman, Editor
milestoneseditor@templeton.org

Pamela Thompson, Vice President of Communications
pthompson@templeton.org

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