New Name
The Center - founded as the Center for Religion, the Professions & the Public - recently changed its name to the MU Center for Religion & the Professions. The name, coupled with a new logo and Web site launch, is intended to better communicate the Center's mission.

Meet the Center

More than 30 scholars, professionals and researchers make up the Center's staff and affiliated faculty. Below are a few of the many people who make the Center a success.

Debra Mason, Ph.D. became director of the Center in September 2006. She is an award-winning journalist with a specialty in religion journalism, the executive director of the Religion Newswriters Association and the executive editor of ReligionLink. Mason is also a professor at the MU School of Journalism.

Amy White serves as the outreach coordinator

for Center projects, research and events. Working as the liaison to the academic and professional communities, she helps bring Center resources and research into the public arena. She also communicates with interested scholars, professionals and citizens striving to spread religious literacy. White is an award-winning newspaper reporter with experience reporting on how faith, values and ethnic identities affect society.

Brick Johnstone, Ph.D, ABPP, is a neuropsychologist and chair of the Department of Health Psychology at MU. He leads the Center's Spirituality and Health research project and serves on the Missouri State Committee of Psychology. Johnstone currently teaches a new MU course, Topics in Health Professions: Spirituality and Health.

Interdisciplinary Article Abstracts

Space and Physics
Barr, Stephen M. "Faith and Quantum Theory." First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion & Public Life. 171 (2007): 21-5.
Barr suggests some of quantum theory's ramifications for theological and philosophical thought. In considering leading physicists' opinions on the topic, he also argues his own views - quantum theory denies determinism and supports the notion of free will.

Sociology and Social Work
Bartkowski, John P. et al. "Religion, Job Readiness, and Employment Outcomes: The Case of Latter-Day Saint Employment Resource Services." Research on Social Work Practice. 17, no. 2 (2007): 188-98.
This article presents an analysis of survey data collected from clients of Employment Resource Centers sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In terms of economic success, Bartkowski and his colleagues find positive economic results in clients utilizing LDS Employment Resource Centers. They suggest possible applications for their findings with reference to faith-based organizations aiding the unemployed.

Women's Studies
Edgell, Penny and Danielle Docka. "Beyond the Nuclear Family? Familism and Gender Ideology in Diverse Religious Communities." Sociological Forum. 22, no. 1 (2007):26-51.
Investigating the relationships between family ideology and gender in three diverse Christian congregations, Edgell and Docka find a divergence from the American ideal of "the good family," what they term religious familism. Familial outlooks and gendered practices in a Hispanic Catholic parish, an African-American congregation and a white liberal Protestant congregation are more inclusive, though traditional gender roles are reinforced rather than rejected. With these findings, Edgell and Docka suggest new understandings of gender identity production in religiously oriented communities.

Sociology and Human Development
Lambert, Nathaniel M. "How Religiosity Helps Couples Prevent, Resolve, and Overcome Marital Conflict." Family Relations. 55, no. 4 (2006): 439-49
Lambert presents a model describing the impact of religiosity on marital conflict. Based on interviews with highly religious, middle-aged married couples claiming an Abrahamic faith, religiosity is shown to affect marital dispute in three phases of conflict: problem prevention, conflict resolution and relationship reconciliation. Lambert concludes that for religious couples, turning to religion is one way of resolving conflict.

Computers
McKenna, Katelyn Y.A. and Kelly J. West. "Give Me That Online-Time Religion: The Role of the Internet in Spiritual Life." Computers in Human Behavior. 23, no.2 (2007): 942-954.
In a survey study, McKenna and West find evidence that participation in online religious forums carries the fulfillment of social needs and benefits in much the same way as those with active membership in traditional religious organizations.