Where would you expect to find religion as part of a university education? Andrew West of the ABC’s Religion and Ethics Report explored this question with speakers at the recent Religion in the University Conference.
Where would you expect to find religion as part of a university education? Schools of theology, obviously. Departments of history — ancient and modern — certainly. And these days, increasingly, in faculties of law. But what about in courses that deal with engineering, finance or medicine?
At a conference at Melbourne University recently, academics set out to map the influence—and relevance—of religion across almost all academic disciplines. The conference was organised by, among many, the Rev Dr Wes Campbell, Uniting Church chaplain to the university; and by Professor Brian Howe, a former deputy prime minister of Australia and, himself, an ordained Uniting Church minister.
Two of the leading participants in the conference were Professor Abdullah Saeed, director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, and Dr Alison Morgan, a medical practitioner and senior adviser at the Nossal Institute for Global Health. Professor Saeed explains the impact of the Muslim faith on a vast area of intellectual life, while Dr Morgan speaks about recent research that suggests—but does not conclude—that people with religious faith are often healthier.
Listen to these interviews on the ABC Religion and Ethics Report Website.
