Life and Work

“Life and Work” is a podcast-like series hosted by Rev. Nathan Carlin, PhD, as he talks with intellectuals and writers about the relationship between their personal lives and public scholarship. The inaugural interview features Tess Jones, PhD, who shares about the health humanities movement and her role in founding and shaping the field.

Episode 1: Tess Jones

Tess Jones, PhD, is Associate Director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities and Director of the Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she is also Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine. Jones is the editor for the Journal of Medical Humanities and lead editor for the Health Humanities Reader. She teaches health humanities and disability studies in the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Physical Therapy and Physician Assistants Programs. She developed the undergraduate Health Humanities Minor for the University of Colorado Denver, now in its sixth academic year, and the Graduate Certificate in Health Humanities and Ethics, currently in its second academic year.


Episode 2: Keith Meador

In this episode, Carlin interviews Keith Meador, MD, ThM, MPH, about his choice to practice medicine and explorations of religion and spirituality.

Keith Meador is Director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society and Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Religion, and Health Policy at Vanderbilt University. Meador also serves as the Director of Mental Health and Chaplaincy through the VISN 6 MIRECC as part of a national initiative to foster the integration of chaplaincy services into mental health care within the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is the Director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt and Professor in the Graduate Department of Religion. He is a physician and board-certified psychiatrist with training in theology and public health, having received his medical degree from the University of Louisville. Meador completed his residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in aging and human development at Duke University. His theological education led to a ThM degree at Duke Divinity School, and he received an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


Episode 3: Robert Dykstra

In this episode, Nathan Carlin talks with Robert Dykstra, PhD, MDiv, about his educational journey, including his experiences of hospital chaplaincy. They also discuss his understanding of pastoral theology as described in Dykstra’s new book, Finding Ourselves Lost. In the interview, they also observe areas of overlap between pastoral theology and medical humanities, such as: How can we teach or cultivate empathy?

Robert Dykstra is the Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he has served since 1997. He earned his PhD and MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary and his BA from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Before coming to Princeton, he taught at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary as an assistant and, later, associate professor of pastoral theology and congregational care. Dykstra is on the editorial boards of Pastoral Psychology and the Journal of Childhood and Religion, and he is co-founder of the annual scholarly conference “Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology.”


Episode 4: Andrea Jain

In this interview, Dr. Carlin talks with Andrea Jain, PhD, about her work on capitalism, the body, and yoga, as well as her role as editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, including her hopes for the future of the study of religion.

Andrea Jain is associate professor of religious studies at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts in Indianapolis and author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture. She received her doctorate in religious studies from Rice University in 2010. Her areas of research include religion and capital; global spirituality; South Asian religions; the intersections of gender, sexuality, and religion; and theories of religion. Her second monograph, Peace Love Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality will be available in October 2020.


Episode 5: Samuel Shem

Samuel Shem is the pen-name of Stephen Joseph Bergman, MD, who is trained in psychiatry. His internship at Beth Israel Hospital inspired his first novel, The House of God, published in 1978. Shem has authored several novels, plays, and essays, including Mount Misery and Man’s 4th Best Hospital. His works are described as offering fictional but realistic depictions of physician training in the United States.