Panel explores links between mind, body and spirituality

The timeless conflict between science and religion has never been resolved, but in a symposium held Monday, five Penn professors at least made an attempt to do so. In a panel discussion entitled "Spirituality and Health: Exploring the Relationship Between Mind, Body and Spirit," the professors offered their perspectives on the link between religion and medicine. All ultimately agreed that the topic requires further investigation. Each participant will have a role in the proposed Penn Center for Spirituality, Religion and Health. The professors, who are currently working to raise money for the center, held the event in part to draw attention to the project. The panel was part of the 11-day New Health Symposium, a first-annual event intended to "explore new frontiers in health, healing, fitness and well-being for body mind and spirit." The symposium includes over 100 such panels and events, but Monday's is the only one located at Penn. The event, sponsored in part by the Penn Institute on Aging, was held in the Maloney Building of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It attracted a crowd of more than 100 people. Radiology Professor Andrew Newberg began the presentations by offering data from over 50 studies on the link between religion and medical illness. Nearly all showed a direct relationship between levels of spirituality and overall health. Later, Folklore and Folklife Professor David Hufford further explored the often-inexplicable role that spirituality plays in people's lives. He offered an anecdote from a book he helped write, The World Was Flooded With Light : A Mystical Experience Remembered, in which co-author Genevieve Foster wrote of being visited by an invisible "presence" for a week. Hufford said that it was her guardian angel. More research and study is needed, Hufford insisted, because many people are "locked up alone" with experiences like Foster's. For more than 40 years, Foster told only four people about her encounter, before ultimately deciding to write a book on the experience. Hufford, along with Institute on Aging Director Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, will co-direct the Center for Spirituality Health and Religion. Its goal will be to promote an "interdisciplinary dialogue on issues pertaining to spirituality and health," said panel moderator Elizabeth Mackenzie, who is also a doctor with the institute. Department of Pastoral Care and Education Professor John Ehman also presented the findings from his recent study entitled "Pulmonary Patients' attitude concerning physician inquiry about spiritual/religious beliefs." In their award-winning study, Ehman and the four other investigators concluded that all medical practitioners should incorporate "an inquiry about spiritual [or] religious beliefs into the social history of a comprehensive patient evaluation." During the subsequent question and answer period with the audience, the panel fielded questions that focused mainly on the implications from Ehman's research.