AAR Conference

 Tomorrow I will be attending the American Academy of Religion conference in Chicago, IL. As a part of the work I did at Church Health Center, we will be promoting our website, hopeandhealing.org, and networking with many people who are interested in the connection between faith and health. I am every excited to be a part of this conference and look forward to telling you all about what I learn while I am there. Here’s a brief description of the conference:

The American Academy of Religion has its annual meeting this year in Chicago on October 31 through November 4.

The gathering of scholars at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting is the world’s largest of its kind. Participants include professors and students, authors and publishers, religious leaders and interested laypersons.  With over 11,000 members, AAR is a member association for scholars of ALL religions.

The Annual Meeting Exhibit is a premier attraction where publishers have direct contact with some 5,000 interested attendees. The latest in books and software for religious studies, theology, and related fields are introduced, displayed, and sold in the Annual Meeting Exhibit Hall.

 

I will keep you posted!

A Health Ministry Project

As a part of my graduate assistantship, I’ve been involved with a project to format a health ministry around a radio soap opera that addresses health issues. It is very interesting to get feedback of the best way to market and package this product. I am very excited to be able to specifically work on a project with a faith and health focus. We are only in the brainstorming phases now but are hoping to be able to pilot this project in local churches of Birmingham. We eventually plan to develop a scripturally based curriculum or study guide. Any ideas are welcomed.

A “HOT” field

Just in case you’re considering a career in public health, the Washington Post calls it a “hot” field!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091804145.html?hpid=topnews

The History of Public Health and Christianity

We all have heard the saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Little did I know, so were many origins of medicine and public health. Today’s lecturer, Dr. Michael Fleenor of the Jefferson County Health Department, spoke about the history of public health. He discussed how diseases were defined through an intergrated view of  one’s mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. There was some who believed that spirits or higher beings brought about disease. Similar to the story of Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days to rid himself of evil, the idea of isolation and quarantine for diseased individuals was born. They thought if no disease had developed in forty days, then the person was clear of disease and evilness. Medicine, in these times, was most often associated with the spiritual leaders. Even the symbolism behind the doctor’s white coat came from the idea of a healer as pure and as a mediator between God and the people. The Hebrews took sanitation and cleanliness very serious and practiced much of this behavior during their time in Egypt.

A lot of the problems we study in public health are linked to poor sanitation and inadequate access to care based on social class. We continue to learn more and more about diseases and provide treatments and intervention programs to help stop the spread of disease. However, as Dr. Fleenor said in his lecture today, “The way people see the world is based on what they believe more than anything else.” We must connect the dots and include faith as a part of the integrated health and be culturally competent enough to understand different perspectives of the origins of diease and health-related problems.