These semi-monthly seminars are a regular gathering of faculty, students, clinicians, and others interested in the intersections of theology, medicine, and culture during the fall and spring semesters. See a list of speakers and topics below, and see the Events Calendar for more information about each seminar. We are excited to announce the availability of continuing education credit in association with our TMC Seminar Series. See details below.* Presented in collaboration with the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine.
Registration is free, open to the public, and will give access to all online seminars in the series for the 2023-2024 academic year. The first seminar for the upcoming fall semester is scheduled for Friday, September 8, 2023. Stay tuned to this page for updates and the full fall schedule of speakers.
TMC Seminar Series Spring 2023
All seminars will take place on Fridays, 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET
January 20, 2023 with Abraham Nussbaum, MD, MTS
“Health Equity is Not a Spectator Sport: A Radical Rerooting Using a Three Trees Analogy.”
February 3, 2023 with Jason Ashe, MDiv, ThM
“Racism: Driver of Health Disparities, Outlier in Our Theology of Illness.”
February 17, 2023 with Emma Green
“Can We Live Together? The Crisis of Journalism in America.”
March 3, 2023 with Daisey Dowell, MD
“ ‘Many are Called…?’ Medicine as Ministry to Poor and Marginalized Communities.”
March 24, 2023 with James Rusthoven, MD, MHSc, PhD
“Living out an Intentional Theology of Faithful Presence in Medicine.”
TMC Seminar Series Past
For recordings of past seminars, see tabs below. For a preview of all audio recordings, see our playlists on SoundCloud or iTunes. Some recordings may not yet be available, but are coming soon.
Recordings coming summer 2023.
September 9, 2022 – “Churches Promoting Recovery: Faith-Based Responses to Substance Use Issues” with Brett McCarty, ThD
October 7, 2022 – “Reimagining a Theology of Medicine” with Kristin Collier, MD
September 23, 2022: Brian Volck, MD, MFA, in conversation with Martha Carlough, MD, MPH
“The Art of Living as Creatures”
*Special co-event with TMC’s Practice & Presence gathering, 3:00pm – 4:00pm*
October 21, 2022: John Swinton, BD, PhD, RMN, RMND
“Can a Pill Do What the Holy Spirit Could Not?: Psychiatric Medication, Personhood, and Living Faithfully with Mental Health Challenges”
December 2, 2022: Emily R. Smith, PhD
“The Science of the Good Samaritan”
- January 21st — “This Sacred Life: Linking Cosmology and Health” with Norman Wirzba, PhD
- February 4th — “Food Insecurity in the United States: A Call to Action” with Norbert Wilson, PhD
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: Norbert Wilson describes hospitality as “reaching across difference to meet a deep need”
- Full Audio Recording
- February 18th — “Hoping for a Medical Miracle in Pediatric Care and Beyond” with Ryan Antiel, MD, and Alex Lion, DO
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: Ryan Antiel, MD: Can medicine practice “real intercultural communication” with religion?
- Video Excerpt: Alex Lion, MD: Excellent care at the end of life means bringing science and faith close together
- Full Audio Recording
- March 4th — “What I Learned About Accompaniment from Paul Farmer” with Jennie Weiss block, PhD, OP
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: “What does it mean to accompany the lonely other?”
- Video Excerpt: “Accompaniment spirituality”: God prioritizes the oppressed, and so should we
- Video Excerpt: The Eucharist and Paul Farmer’s spirituality
- Full Audio Recording
- March 18th — “Background Beliefs and Bioethics” with Gilbert Meilander, PhD
- April 1st — “God V. Mammon: Neuroscience, Economics, and the Biopolitics of Morality” with M. Therese Lysaught, PhD
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: “”What is mammon, and how might we pursue an alternative economy of gift?”
- Full Audio Recording
- November 12th — “Thinking about Theology and Mental Health: Bible, Spirit, and Church,” with John Swinton, BD, PhD, RMN, RNMD
- November 5th — “Biblical Narratives of Healing” with Ellen Davis, PhD, and Kavin Rowe, PhD
- October 22nd — “No Cure for Being Human” with Kate Bowler, PhD
- October 1 — “Shepherding Patients and Families Through End-Of-Life Care: A Gospel-Centered Perspective” with Kathryn Butler, MD
- September 17 — “Health, Wholeness, and Humanity: The Stewardship of Creation as if Matter Mattered” with Brian Volck, MD, MFA
- September 3 — “Pursuing Shalom in the Age of COVID-19: Some Theological Considerations” with Patrick Smith, PhD
- January 13 —“(Mal)formation in Medical Training: A Conversation” with Carl Elliott, MD, PhD and Stanley Hauerwas, PhD
- January 27th: “How Are [or are not] Early Christian Hospitals Useful to Religious Imaginaries Today That Seek to Promote Modern Clinical and Global Health?” with Susan Holman, PhD
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: Susan Holman, PhD on the connection between the health sciences and religious history
- Video Excerpt: Susan Holman, PhD on similarity and difference between early Christian hospitals and modern health care
- Video Excerpt: Susan Holman, PhD on an ideal vision for healing
- Full Audio Recording
- February 10th: “The Intersection of Gender and Denomination on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors for African Americans” with Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards, PhD
- February 24th: “Saved by Grace Through Pharma? The Bible and Preventive Medicine” with Kavin Rowe, PhD, MDiv, and Bradley Gregory, PhD
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: Kavin Rowe, PhD, MDiv, and Bradley Gregory, PhD on biblical formation and making medical decisions
- Video Excerpt: Kavin Rowe, PhD, MDiv, and Bradley Gregory, PhD on the inscrutable future
- Video Excerpt: Kavin Rowe, PhD, MDiv, and Bradley Gregory, PhD on how Christ reorients us to the deeper life issues
- Video Excerpt: Kavin Rowe, PhD, MDiv, and Bradley Gregory, PhD on gaining biblical wisdom
- March 10th: “An Explanatory Model of Illness and Religion in Haiti: From a Spiritual to a Holistic Approach” with Pere (“Father”) Eddy Eustache, PhD
- Full Video Recording
- Video Excerpt: Pere (“Father”) Eddy Eustache, PhD on the demonization of African beliefs and Vodou
- Video Excerpt: Pere (“Father”) Eddy Eustache, PhD on the holistic view of health in Vodou philosophy
- Video Excerpt: Pere (“Father”) Eddy Eustache, PhD on valuing traditional healers
- March 24th: “Womanist Bioethics” with Wylin Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv
- Video Excerpt: Wylin Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv on the big question of womanist bioethics
- Video Excerpt: Wylin Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv on spirituality and the self-determination of black women
- Video Excerpt: Wylin Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv on the essential role of womanist bioethics in healthcare practice
- Video Excerpt: Wylin Wilson, PhD, MS, MDiv on womanist bioethics as a corrective tool
- September 4 —“The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges,” with John Swinton, R.M.N., R.N., Ph.D., Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
- September 18 —“African American Spirituality, Serious Illness, and the Covid-19 Crisis,” with the Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, M.D., Swartz Resident Practitioner of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and co-pastor of Bethel AME Church, Boston.
- October 2 — “Capitalism and the Social Origins of Psychological Distress,” with Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, L.C.P.T., P.h.D., Associate Professor of the Practice of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at Vanderbilt Divinity School
- October 16 — “Duty and Justice in Jewish Bioethics: The Questions of Vaccines and Pandemics” with Laurie Zoloth, R.N., Ph.D., Margaret E. Burton Professor of Religion and Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School and Senior Advisor to the Provost for Programs on Social Ethics
- October 30 — “Spirituality and Disability in Patient Care: Where We Are Now and Hopes for the Future” with Sarah Jean Barton, O.T.R./L., Th.D., Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at Duke School of Medicine and Theological Ethics at Duke Duke Divinity School
- November 13 — “Health and Salvation: How are they related in the Gospels?” with Sister Teresa Forcades i Vila, M.D., Ph.D., physician, theologian and Benedictine nun in the mountain monastery of Sant Benet de Montserrat (Catalonien, Spain)
*Continuing education credit will be attendance-based and only available to those who participate in the live seminar sessions. Participants will need to register a Duke OneLink account (See instructions here). A text code will be provided at the start of each seminar for those wishing to receive credit. See additional details below.
Continuing Education credits available for: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and chaplains.
Duke University Health System Clinical Education and Professional Development is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. As an IACET Accredited Provider Duke University Health System Clinical Education and Professional Development offers CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standard. Duke University Health System Clinical Education and Professional Development is authorized by IACET to offer up to 0.1 CEUs for each activity.
In support of improving patient care, the Duke University Health System Department of Clinical Education and Professional Development is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), to provide continuing education for the health care team.
Category 1: Duke University Health System Department of Clinical Education and Professional Development designates this activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Nurse CE: Duke University Health System Department of Clinical Education and Professional Development designates this activity for up to 1.0 credit hours for nurses. Nurses should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.