Journal of Religion and Society Supplement 27

This article examines the intersections of religion, knowledge-making, and botanical practice in early modern Istanbul through the case of flower cultivation. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, Ottoman floriculture developed into a sophisticated culture of botanical experimentation, sensory refinement, and social exchange centered around the cultivation of new flower varieties. Drawing on books on flowers, technical manuals, and biographical dictionaries of cultivators, the article demonstrates how Ottoman religious and scholarly circles—including Sufi shaykhs, imams, scholars, physicians, and high officials—participated in collaborative networks devoted to the observation, classification, naming, and transmission of horticultural knowledge. In addition to its aesthetic and economic aspects, flower cultivation was also a form of intellectual and spiritual cultivation embedded in the religious and royal networks of early modern Ottoman society. By examining Ottoman floriculture through the intertwined histories of religion, science, and social practice, the article argues that flower cultivation constituted an important site of knowledge production in early modern Istanbul.

This work explores historical notions of design, teleological theories, and the origins of the anthropic principle in modern physics and cosmology. Given design arguments from history like natural theology and intelligent design, this paper reviews the scientific literature for evidence for fine tuning and design in nature including recent particle physics and cosmology results. Although the Universe appears fine-tuned in many ways, this work concludes that science at this date cannot settle the question of design, thus refuting the claims of many popular proponents of intelligent design. Design remains an article of faith that cannot be proven scientifically, though it is consistent with modern science. This paper also raises concerns about intelligent design claims and methods and the proper relationship between science and religion.

Science and theology are two of the most important cognitive systems and, historically, have been at odds in their interpretation of reality. The Second Vatican Council and Popes John Paul II and Francis have called for a deeper integration of, and dialogue and consonance between, science and theology that promotes a future that is “healthier, more human, more social, more integral” (Francis 2015, n. 112). That integration, however, has been consistently inconsistent depending on whether it is addressing sexual or social ethical issues. In this essay, we first examine the consonances between theology and science. Second, we explore official Catholic teaching on sexual and social teaching and demonstrate the inconsistent integration of scientific and theological knowledge.

How do Catholic leaders integrate or draw boundaries between scientific and religious knowledge systems in their discussion of climate change? This chapter explores this question at three different levels of Catholic leaders: U.S. sisters, Pope Francis, and U.S. bishops. First, drawing on qualitative interviews, this research finds that U.S. sisters integrate science and religion to gain credibility in their claims about climate change and to respond to pushback. Second, drawing on content analysis of official Church teachings, this research finds that Pope Francis similarly integrates science and religion to support his claims about climate change and draws on science more heavily when responding to pushback. Finally, drawing on content analysis of official diocesan columns, this research finds that U.S. bishops selective integrate or draw boundaries between science and religion based on their political priorities, sometimes downplaying climate change and sometimes emphasizing abortion.

This project centers on an 1844 Spanish legal case involving a double tragedy of maternal and fetal death in childbed. The case rests within the overlapping scientific, medical, religious, and legal frameworks of mid-nineteenth-century Spain. Local authorities opened an investigation that, while nominally about the death of the mother, was focused on the death of the infant. First pursuing unsuccessful charges of infanticide against these neighbor-midwives, the prosecutors eventually convicted the women for operating as midwives without a license. They used the infant’s death as a tool to punish the local women who responded to a dying woman’s bedside. The mid-nineteenth century science of fetal development and viability developed together with Catholic theology around fetal ensoulment within a reforming legal framework in Spain, shaping reproductive care and allowing medical doctors to value the fetus over the wishes and life of the mother.

In this article, I draw from ethnographic research in an enclosed suspended bridge/passageway connecting a Romanian oncology hospital to an adjacent Eastern Orthodox church. I examine the space of the bridge as a “heterotopia of deviation,” that is, a real site where individuals are isolated, regulated, or contained. Even though it connects the oncology hospital and the church, the bridge itself is neither hospital nor church. First, the bridge functions temporarily as a place of festivity, especially during Sunday’s liturgical services. Second, the bridge is a space of transition and spatial and temporal liminality, where medical workers, patients, and their families can accommodate, disrupt, or resist the everyday practices of oncological care. Third, the bridge is a space of multiple juxtaposed orders, both secular and Orthodox. Methodologically, I highlight the value of participant observation in validating findings collected from other sources, such as interviews and literature review on Orthodoxy and oncologic care.

Professional chaplaincy is a specialized ministry that provides spiritual, religious, pastoral, ethical, and/or existential care in secular settings, such as hospitals, prisons, or the military, by individuals ordained or endorsed by their faith communities (including humanist societies and other secular bodies). The essence of chaplaincy is a relational encounter characterized by openness and engagement that begins with the needs of the patient, client, or recipient of such ministry. The art of this encounter is as varied as the people practicing it, but the efficacy of chaplaincy in healthcare settings is well established. This article explores the tension between a positivist outcome-based evaluation of chaplaincy and the relationship presence-based experience of the ministry. It concludes with a modest way forward which distinguishes between different forms of evaluation relative to specific audiences.

Drawing on 74 in-depth interviews with a racially diverse sample of evangelical Christian church members and leaders, I explore the relationship between religion, race, and trust in medicine. While religiosity is generally associated with better health outcomes and higher trust in medical institutions, conservative religious communities often report lower levels of trust in medicine. Although researchers have more often noted anti-institutionalism as a factor shaping distrust in medicine among white conservative evangelicals, historical and ongoing experiences of medical racism also contribute to mistrust among Black and Hispanic evangelical populations in the U.S. Despite these dynamics, little research has explored how evangelicals narrate the role of their faith in shaping medical trust, particularly across racial lines. This study identifies key themes in how evangelicals frame their trust or skepticism toward medicine and highlights how both religious and racial contexts inform these attitudes in distinct ways.

Terese Marie Mailhot’s 2018 bestselling memoir Heart Berries has been hailed by reviewers. In addition to its literary merit, Heart Berries is valuable for scholars and students of Native North American religion and health. While religion is not the main subject of the memoir, the topic is woven throughout. In addition, illness features prominently in the text. This article is motivated by two primary questions: First, how are autobiography and memoir useful for understanding elements of Native American religion and spirituality? Second, what can autobiographical texts by Indigenous authors illuminate about the relationship between religion, spirituality, history, mental health, and wellbeing? Offering insights into contemporary Indigenous lived religion, Heart Berries illuminates connections between individual and communal (un)wellness. Further, it highlights the influence of settler colonialism on Indigenous health outcomes. For Indigenous communities, addressing historical trauma is necessary for healing—and religion has played a role in each.

By the time Nina Riggs had a contract with a publisher for The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying, she also knew that her cancer was not survivable. When confronted with her own mortality, Riggs chose to write. Her book is an illness memoir, but it is also something more. By reading Riggs’ work through the framework of bearing witness—of telling the truth in the face of traumatic events and experiences—we can see how this practice becomes a spiritual one that allows Riggs to reconcile her pre-cancer self to her dying self, creating a pathway to hope as she normalizes for herself (and maybe even for her readers) death’s presence in the midst of life.

This study examines loneliness, belonging, mental health, religious practice and well-being among undergraduate students at a Midwestern Jesuit university. Survey data from 1,286 students showed lower overall loneliness than national averages, but significant differences across religious and spiritual identities. Students identifying as religious or spiritual reported lower loneliness, stronger social fit, and greater belonging than peers who were uncertain, unaffiliated, or non-spiritual. Religious well-being was positively associated with self-acceptance, personal growth, positive relationships, adaptive coping, and lower depressive symptoms. Both religious practice and religious well-being were associated with adaptive coping. The findings suggest that loneliness among undergraduates in emerging adulthood is shaped by a multitude of factors including religious well-being, institutional context, and belonging within campus life. As a case study, Creighton highlights how colleges and universities may address loneliness through attention to social fit, inclusion, and the structures of community that support student well-being and belonging.