People have approached me in the last few months, troubled over my move from Andrews University in Michigan to Loma Linda University in California. They wonder how can I give up the Seminary setting, where my specialties are front-row and center and move to a health science university, where I have to, in effect, start all over. The implication is that I have taken a big step down and have given up my best chance to change the world. Some have even implied that the move is some sort of exile.

I certainly don’t see it that way. Loma Linda University is in an amazing position to change the world. For one thing, it has the only faith-based medical and dental programs in the United States. There are several Jesuit institutions that offer medical programs, but none of them includes religion in the curriculum. They are simply secular programs offered at faith-based universities. Loma Linda is a health-science university that builds faith and wholeness into every single degree and certificate program. In light of recent publicity suggesting that religion can have a positive effect on overall health, Loma Linda is well-positioned to be at the cutting edge of health care in the decades to come.

You may be aware that National Geographic recently identified the Loma Linda community as one of the three longest lived communities on earth, and the only one where longevity is not tied to an isolated and non-duplicatable culture (the other two communities were in isolated parts of Okinawa and Sicily, I believe). The Loma Linda lifestyle may be the world’s best hope for significant advances in longevity in the near future.

In light of the above, the opportunity to be in charge of the religion and humanities curricula of Loma Linda University (Dean of the School of Religion and Division of Humanities) was too good to pass up. I have the opportunity to work with health scientists to integrate the spiritual, emotional and mental sides of the human condition with the latest advances in physical and medical sciences. If the Loma Linda philosophy of wholeness has produced a community that lives ten years longer than the California average, there is something here that is well worth being a part of.

Let me share with you a discussion I chaired between faculty of religion and faculty in the basic sciences at our School of Medicine on January 4, 2008. If there is any aspect of a health science university that could be considered at the opposite end of the spectrum from religion, it would be the basic sciences, which are completely dependant on hard data and careful empirical research. What value could religion classes possibly have to a PhD program in the basic sciences?

We asked the professors in the basic sciences to share the goals and objectives of the program and how religion could contribute to the lives of aspiring scientists. Here are some of the things we came up with:

1) Help students understand that faith is not incompatible with the production of new knowledge. Science is not of dubious usefulness for faith. Rather, faith needs to understand. Religion is worthy of the same kind of intellectual rigor that we expect from scientists. And science can also be engaged in from the standpoint of service to God. One of the things Loma Linda University can contribute to the world is the concept of faith-based and faith-motivated science, something happening in no other educational institution. Is the idea of a faith-based equivalent to Stanford or MIT too big a stretch? I think not. Is the world today ready for such an institution? I think so.

2) Scientists need to know that the Bible is worthy of serious scientific study. Religion teachers can help them learn healthy ways to read texts and common fallacies about the Bible and its interpretation to avoid.

3) Religion classes in a science curriculum can create a safe and respectful environment where students can sort out their own convictions about faith and knowledge. Religion can help them discover the spiritual significance of their lives and develop a sense of God’s purpose in their scientific endeavors. Not all students come to class as spiritual people, but they are all trying to figure out the meaning of their lives.

4) Explore whether the study of science inevitably leads to a loss of faith. And if faith is lost what kind of faith is lost? Can such an occurrence be a blessing at times?

Don’t you wish you could have been listening in on the discussion that produced ideas like that? I was pumped to be part of such a fruitful and life-changing discussion, with many more to come.

So to my two or three fans out there, don’t cry for me. I am having the time of my life. And I promise you I won’t neglect the research and publishing agenda I have pursued for the last twenty years, and that has led to this web site. Stay tuned for some fresh studies on the Battle of Armageddon in the next month or two.