Loyola University Chicago

An Interdisciplinary Academic Conference Exploring Faith in the Sciences, the Humanities, and the Professions

• What is Dialogues in Faith and Study?
• Schedule of Events
• Presentation Abstracts
• Local Information
• Registration

What is Dialogues in Faith and Study?

Dialogues in Faith and Study: An Interdisciplinary Academic Conference Exploring Faith in the Sciences, the Humanities, and the Professions is a one-day conference open to the public. Hosted by Loyola University Chicago, the conference includes presentations on research related to faith and study and opportunities to network with others interested in this area. Dialogues is open to people of all faith backgrounds. While Loyola is not providing lunch or dinner, we will be providing snacks, including kosher and halal refreshments.

Dialogues is sponsored by the Arrupe-King Fund, the Center for Ethics and Social Justice, the Center for Urban Research and Learning, the College of Arts and Sciences, EVOKE, the Graduate School, the Graduate School of Business, the Institute for Pastoral Studies, Magis, the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, the School for Continuing and Professional Studies, the School of Education, the School of Law, the School of Social Work, the Stritch School of Medicine and University Ministry.  

---

Schedule

All conference events will take place at 25 East Pearson Building, Water Tower Campus.

11:30 a.m.: Check-in and refreshments

Noon: Welcome

12:30 p.m.: Spiritual Beliefs Effect on Death Anxiety and Depression (Judy Dallner, Carol Feingold, Abel Miller, Cynthia Marzette, Susan Winstead)

1:15 p.m.: Break

1:30 p.m.: The Ministerial Imagination (Kate E. Kinser)

2:15 p.m.: Break

2:30 p.m.: Twelve-Step Recovery: From Exile to Restoration Through Faith (Jeanine Viau)

3:15 p.m.: Break

3:30 p.m.: Understanding and Building Justice from Religious Beliefs with a Displaced Population in Colombia (Manuel Ruiz)

4:15 p.m.: Break

4:30 - 5:00 p.m.: Closing comments and small group dialogues across the disciplines

---

Presentation Abstracts

Spiritual Beliefs Effect on Death Anxiety and Depression
Judy Dallner, Carol Feingold, Abel Miller, Cynthia Marzette, Susan Winstead

The purpose of this study was to determine a relationship between spiritual/religious beliefs and death related anxiety and depression in an elderly population. If a relationship exists, then spiritual ideals and practice could prove useful tools in the therapeutic setting. Pre-existing instruments to measure levels of anxiety, depression and spiritual beliefs were used in this determination. The standard scales used were the Death Depression Scale-Revised (DDS-R) (Harville, Stokes, Templer and Rienzi, 2004) the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) (Templer, 2000) and the Belief Inventory (Templer, 2000). One hundred and eight adults ages sixty-five and older made up a sample selected from both assisted living and community based facilities. Each participant filled out a survey containing the three scales and a demographics page. The data was examined using T tests to determine the strength of the relationship between each of the elements of the Belief Inventory and the respective scores on the Death Anxiety and Death Depression Scales.

The research results suggest there is a correlation between the mental health of elderly individuals and their spiritual beliefs. The findings support the thesis that teaching spiritual tools could assist elderly clients with death related anxiety and depression.

---

The Ministerial Imagination
Kate E. Kinser

College and post-graduate training for volunteer and professional ministry in the last thirty-five years has had two foci: academic courses on scripture, theology and related subjects of intellectual study, similar to those courses traditionally offered in seminary training and "practical" courses (including field work and internships) on "methods of ministry": how to preside at liturgies, how to preach, how to be a hospital chaplain, how to effectively administer not-for-profit religious institutions and related tasks.

In those practical courses, much of the "offered wisdom" is gathered from social service and business models, with an emphasis on how to be an honest, efficient administrator. In the academic courses, often pursued with fellow students whose goal is to teach or do research apart from ministry, the goal for the ministerial student is to become intellectually competent in the historical and documentary annals of religious thought.

The problem with this model of education and formation is that the development of ministerial identity, thinking and imagination is neglected and students leave with a degree or certificate in ministry believing that they have not learned enough to be either scholars or well-prepared administrators. What is being "in ministry" all about? And how does one cultivate a life in ministry, as part of academic and practical study, and then beyond?

This proposed presentation, based on research and writing in my M.Div. project (degree granted in May, 2004), focuses on the IMAGINATION of ministry, which is the intersection and synthesis of traditional academic learning, practical pastoral concerns, contemporaneous ("current") socio-political events and mass culture (the world according to People magazine) in dialogue with members of congregations, inquirers, curious outsiders and others who have questions related to spirituality or faith.

The Ministerial Imagination goes beyond the concerns of pastoral theology to "make the big ideas understandable to the masses" to re-imagining theological questions in the light of contemporary events and culture that take into account both the ancient traditions of wisdom and draw from the head, the heart and the supermarket check-out line.

---

Twelve-Step Recovery: From Exile to Restoration through Faith
Jeanine Viau

In discussing the development and implementation of twelve-step recovery, I hope to show the recovery experience as a movement from spiritual emptiness to spiritual fulfillment through faith. Research will include an introduction to the Oxford Group and the origins of Alcoholics Anonymous to the widespread indoctrination of the twelve-steps for recovery from various forms of addiction and illness. In the experience of twelve-step recovery, one finds physical and mental obsessions, often incurable through psychology and medicine, relieved through a spiritual experience, an experience realized through the twelve steps.

An individual begins recovery in a state of powerlessness and unmanageability due to some physical/mental malady. The individual's illness has resulted in some type of physical, social, and/or spiritual exile. Through surrendering to a power greater than herself/himself and the process of the twelve-steps, an individual survives their destructive obsessions and enters into a spiritual way of life. Faith, in a power greater than herself/himself, becomes an essential part of an individual's recovery. Faith restores the individual to sanity. The object of faith is a God of the individual's understanding, opening the experience of restoration to all people, regardless of religious sect or denomination, and, in many cases, atheism and agnosticism.

The movement of twelve-step recovery has manifested itself in various communities of individuals united under a set of moral principles, the twelve steps. These principles transcend gender, ethnicity, socio-economic and professional situations, and political and religious affiliations. Consequently, individuals come together in recovery dialogue that crosses all boundaries of social orientation and identification. These communities are united in a common, spiritual purpose without a common understanding of God. Therefore, individuals enter into a broad and dynamic dialogue of faith based on the common experience of spiritual exile and restoration.

The research for this presentation is in progress.

---

Understanding and Building Justice from Religious Beliefs with a Displaced Population in Colombia
Manuel Ruiz

More than two million people have been displaced in Colombia due the internal armed conflict during the last decades. Research teams from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ, Bogotá and the Jesuit Service for Refugees (SJR) have been developing a study to identify the mental representations and religious practices of those people forced into displacement in Colombia. These issues are seen in light of the biblical categories of hope, theological worlds and imago Dei, in order to, in one hand, clarify the role of religion and spirituality in coping with adversity and, in the other hand, to propose alternatives for the establishment of strong social networks for this population.

From a qualitative perspective, the study seeks to determine some of the effects that displacement due the violence has on the Colombian population. This in-course research is focused on four specific topics: the meaning of the possession of the land, basic institutions for socialization, the spirit of the law and religious imagination, assessed within a group of 120 displaced people in four different small towns and rural zones. This presentation is referred specifically to this last point about the religious beliefs and the relationship with the psychological strategies of coping.

The project has three main stages: 1) building the theoretical framework and conceptualization; 2) collection and analysis of data; 3) conclusions, debriefing to communities and suggested pastoral practices.

Currently, the research is in stage two. Researchers have been using unstructured interviews and observing participation in order to collect data about the way in which these displaced people experience their situation. Among some initial conclusions, researchers have found that in many cases the religious orientation, instead of be considered as a problem, allows people to return to their ordinary lives after displacement. This specific presentation introduces some of the findings on this topic.

---

Local Attractions

Local Services on Sunday:
Holy Name Cathedral (Roman Catholic)
Saint James Cathedral (Episcopal)
Fourth Presbyterian Church
First United Methodist Church
Greek Orthodox)

Local Restaurants:
Metromix Dining        

Other Important Information:
Campus maps
Transportation info
Parking info  

---

Registration

Registration questions directed to Monica at: 773.508.8017, or: mmcgett@luc.edu.

For information, contact Michael Maher at: 312.915.7727, or: mmaher@luc.edu.