In Auden’s poem “The Art of Healing,” he writes that “every sickness is a musical problem and every cure a musical solution.” Jazz and health care are two things we normally don’t think about together, let alone in the context of mental health. This conversation was recorded at the 2024 Practice & Presence gathering between theological ethicist Patrick Smith and physician and writer Brewer Eberly. They explores jazz and medicine as moral practice. How does jazz draw out metaphors that help us think about health care and clinical relationships differently? How does jazz teach us to lament and work with uncertainty? As we consider the hard things we have been made to see and hear in health care, how might jazz—a form of art born of oppression and pain—disrupt complacency and awaken us to new ways to live and to heal and to sing?

“You Have Made Your People Hear Hard Things”: Jazz and Medicine as Moral Practice

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke Divinity School and the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke held a seminar entitled "Health Equity Is Not a Spectator Sport: A Radical Rerooting Using a Three Trees Analogy" on January 19th, 2023 with Abraham Nussbaum, MD. Dr. Nussbaum is Chief Education Officer at Denver Health and a Professor of Psychiatry and Assistant Dean of Graduate Medical Education at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is interviewed by TMC Co-Director, Warren Kinghorn, MD, ThD.

"Health Equity Is Not a Spectator Sport- A Radical Rerooting Using a Three Trees Analogy" with Abraham Nussbaum M.D., M.T.S

Jason Ashe, PhD, ThM, MDiv is a Community Health Psychologist & Research Scientist, whose work explores religion and racism as psychosocial determinants of health. He focuses specifically on cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disorder risk and health inequities among Black Americans. Dr. Ashe is a former Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow at Duke Divinity School, and joined us in Spring 2023 to offer this virtual seminar, "Racism Driver of Health Disparities, Outlier in Our Theology Of Illness."

"Racism: Driver of Health Disparities, Outlier in Our Theology Of Illness" with Jason Ashe, PhD, ThM, MDiv

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke Divinity School and the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke held a seminar entitled "Can We Live Together: The Crisis of Journalism In America" on February 17th, 2023 with Emma Green. Emma Green is an American journalist and writer for The New Yorker. In November 2021, she was named a staff writer for the magazine, covering topics of academia and cultural conflicts in education. Green formerly worked as a staff writer and managing editor for The Atlantic, where she covered religion and politics.

"TMC Seminar Series Can We Live Together- The Crisis of Journalism In America" with Emma Green

Dr. Daisey Dowell specializes in Pediatrics for Lawndale Christian Health Center on Chicago's Westside.  In addition to serving as a domestic medical missionary at Lawndale, she also serves as a foreign medical missionary to Haiti as part of El Shaddai Ministry’s,  “Haiti Orphan Project” -- where she  serves along with other medical and nonmedical personnel to bring medical care along with the Gospel, to orphanages and their surrounding communities in the more remote areas of Haiti. Dr. Dowell joined the Theology, Medicine, and Culture virtual seminar series in Spring 2023 to off this seminar, "'Many Are Called…' Medicine As Ministry to Poor and Marginalized Communities."

"'Many Are Called… Medicine As Ministry to Poor and Marginalized Communities" with Dr. Daisey Dowell

Dr. James Rusthoven is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Oncology at McMaster University, and Research Fellow in the Kirby Lang Center for Public Theology in Cambridge. He is known for his contributions to the field of medical oncology and bioethics. Dr. Rusthoven joined the Theology, Medicine, and Culture in Spring of 2023 for this virtual seminar, "Living Out an Intentional Theology of Faithful Presence in Medicine."

"Living Out an Intentional Theology of Faithful Presence In Medicine" with Dr. James Rusthoven

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) welcomed Dr. Brewer Eberly for this virtual seminar on September 8, 2023. He is a third-generation family physician at Fischer Clinic in Raleigh, NC, and a McDonald Agape Fellow in the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School. He completed his family medicine residency and chief residency at AnMed Health in Anderson, SC. Dr. Eberly has been published widely, including JAMA, the New Atlantis, and Christianity Today, with artwork on the cover of Academic Medicine and in the AMA Journal of Ethics. While the majority of his work is caring for his patients, his writing and research is rooted in the intersections of medicine, aesthetics, and Christian theology, with a particular eye toward medical trainee formation, the relationship between beauty and ethics, and the nourishment of weary clinicians.

"Beauty Will Heal the World" with Brewer Eberly, MD, MACS

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) welcomed Dr. Tonya Armstrong for this virtual seminar on September 22, 2023. Dr. Tonya Armstrong is an international speaker, health and wellness entrepreneur, psychology expert and consultant, author, and singer/songwriter. After seven years in academia and solo, part-time practice, Dr. Armstrong launched The Armstrong Center for Hope, a behavioral health practice centering psychological and spiritual wellness for clients all ages. Dr. Armstrong shares more about her work in this seminar.

"Infusing Hope Amid the Mental Health Crisis" with Dr. Tonya Armstrong

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) welcomed Dr. Elaine Eng for this virtual seminar on October 27, 2023. Elaine Eng, M.D., is a graduate of Princeton University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is a professor of mental health counseling who integrates faith, medicine, and psychology in her international and local work as an educator, psychiatrist, and author. Dr. Eng was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in hear adulthood. Her impending blindness meant that she would no longer be able to practice as an obstetrician/gynecologist. Dr. Eng shares a compelling story of faith and commitment to medicine amidst adversity in this virtual seminar. Dr. Eng's books include "The Transforming Power of Story: How Telling Your Story Brings Hope to Others and Healing to Yourself," and "A Christian Approach to Overcoming Disability: A Doctor's Story."

"Pauline Theology, Spiritual Gifts, and the Contemporary Christian Heal" with Dr. Elaine Eng

In this TMC Seminar from November 10, 2023, Dr. John Hardt, Vice Dean of Professional Formation and Associate Professor of Bioethics in Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine offers reflections on how Christians in healthcare might understand the construct of time differently in their daily lives and work.

"Recovering a Christian Sense of Time for Healthcare" with John Hardt, PhD

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School and the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke held a seminar on September 4, 2020 with John Swinton, RMN, RN, PhD, professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His talk is entitled, "The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges."

Professor John Swinton "The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges”

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative invites participants to reimagine and to reengage contemporary practices of health and medicine in light of Christian tradition and the practices of Christian communities.

Professor John Swinton "The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges”

Duke Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative

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