Feb. 15, 2
009 – Dr. Brick Johnstone, head of CORP’s Spirituality and Health research team, spoke Feb. 15, 2009, at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Columbia. The topic was “Selflessness as a Neuropsychological Basis of Spirituality.” The talk was based on team members’ research determining a link between brain function, spiritual experience and selflessness. That research was reported in the December 2008 issue of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science.
Training workshop Feb. 21 – UPDATED
Feb. 1, 2009 – The Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment (TREE) program will host a training workshop with teams of clergy, lay leaders and youth peer leaders from at least 10 Columbia-area congregations on Feb. 21, 2009. Health professionals will present information on teen dating violence, model ways of addressing the issue in faith-based youth groups, and work with congregational teams to shape their programs. The program was founded with a 2008 Missouri Foundation for Health grant submitted with assistance from the MU Center on Religion & the Professions. Groups interested in building a team for this year or next should contact Kim Ryan at (573) 489-2729 or kgryan58@tranquility.net or Kendra Yoder at klyd29@mizzou.edu.
- See article “Columbians discuss sexual assault, domestic violence” Columbia Missourian Feb. 21, 2009
- See article “Grant awarded to churches to start teen relationship program” Columbia Missourian, Dec. 4, 2008.
Upcoming article on spirituality and brain injury
Jan. 28, 2009 – CORP-affiliated researchers will publish an article, “Relationships among Spiritual Beliefs, Religious Practices, Congregational Support, and Health for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury,” in an upcoming issue of the journal Brain Injury. Authors are Brick Johnstone, Dong Pil Yoon, Jon Rupright and Stephanie Reid-Arndt.
Lecture: "The Looming Collapse of the American Empire" by Christopher Hedges
Christopher Hedges
“The Looming Collapse of the American Empire”
A public lecture by Christopher Hedges
Tues., Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m.
Fisher Auditorium, Gannett Hall
University of Missouri
- UPDATE: Read article in The Maneater
- Nearly 600 people came to hear Christopher Hedges speak during his visit to University of Missouri. He spoke in a public lecture, to classes and at the Noel P. Gist Luncheon Seminar on International Affairs, in the Missouri School of Journalism.
Hedges
Christopher Hedges is a journalist and author specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics. He was a foreign correspondent for 20 years in Central America, Africa, and the Balkans, including seven years in the Middle East as bureau chief for The New York Times. He speaks Arabic.
In 2002 Hedges received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism and was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for The New York Times’ coverage of global terrorism. He has written several books. including War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, the bestselling American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, and his most recent, I Don’t Believe in Atheists. A book signing follows. For information, call (573) 882-9720.
Sponsored by the Peace Studies Program, College of Arts and Science, and Center on Religion & the Professions. Free and open to the public.
Groundbreaking research
Neuropsychological link to spiritual experience
CORP researchers have determined a link between brain function, spiritual experience and selflessness, as reported in the December 2008 issue of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. The article, “Evaluation of a neuropsychological model of spirituality in persons with traumatic brain injury,” was authored by Dr. Brick Johnstone, head of CORP’s Spirituality and Health research team, and Bret Glass. [Read more…]
Lecture: “The New Shape of Nuclear Danger" by Jonathan Schell
Lecture: Jonathan Schell, 2005 Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Gl
obalization, speaks on “The New Shape of Nuclear Danger.”
Former writer for The New Yorker, Newsday, New York Newsday and The Nation, Schell authored numerous books, including “The Fate of the Earth,” which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Schell has taught at Emory, Princeton, New York and Wesleyan universities. He now writes and speaks on the nuclear issue. Sponsored by MU Peace Studies Program and the Center on Religion & the Professions.
March 10, 2009 – 7:30 p.m
Fisher Auditorium (Gannett Hall)
Missouri School of Journalism
UPDATE: See article in the Columbia Daily Tribune, March 11, 2009
UPDATE: See article in the Columbia Missourian March 5, 2009
UPDATE: See article in the Columbia Missourian Nov. 1, 2008
Film series featured on KFRU
Lile
Jan. 29, 2009 – CORP outreach coordinator Amy White was interviewed on Jan. 27, 2009, on Columbia’s KFRU News Talk 1400 AM radio station. David Lile, host of the Morning News program, interviewed White about CORP’s “Spirituality & Health” film series. The series’ 2009 season kicked off Jan. 29, 2009, with the film, “Resurrection.” The free films are on occasional Thursdays in Wrench Auditorium (South Memorial Union) on the University of Missouri campus.
Mason speaks to religious groups
Jan. 26, 2009 – 
CORP Director Debra L. Mason was a panelist speaking on “Gutenberg 2.0: Sharing the Gospel in the Information Age” at the Missouri Ministers’ School during the Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church Jan. 13-15, 2009. She also spoke Jan. 25, 2009, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Jefferson City on “Religion, Media and Meaning.”
Sects and the City: Being Moral with Money
Featuring Michael Sykuta, associate professor of agricultural economics at MU and MU Christian Scholars Forum member. As the economy stumbles, people are thinking about personal and national debt. Is debt a sin? Are riches a blessing? What is the relationship between lender and debtor? A discussion of religious beliefs about lending, credit and debt, and how they affect views about money. You’ll watch this one with interest. Free.
(Part 2) Part of the “Sects and the City: Coffee and conversation on the intersection of faith and life” series co-sponsored by the Center on Religion & the Professions.
Update:
- Referenced in article Columbians turn to churches for financial guidance, Columbia Missourian March 5, 2009
Spiritual impact on mental health
Dec. 31, 2008 — An article by CORP-affiliated researchers, “Differentiating the Impact of Spiritual Experiences, Religious Practices, and Congregational Support on the Mental Health of Individuals with Heterogeneous Medical Disorders,” has been accepted for publication in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.
Authors are MU researchers Daniel Cohen, Dong Pil Yoon and Brick Johnstone. Cohen is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies; Yoon is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work; and Johnstone is a professor of health psychology and head of the Center on Religion & the Professions’ spirituality and health research team.