Interview with Author James B. Nelson Special from Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association (PHEWA). (See also http://www.phewacommunity.org/) Read interviewer Rev. Chuck Booker’s own reflections on addiction in his article Spiritus Contra Spiritum! A renowned Christian ethicist who spent most of his career at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities,
MoreThe Rat Park In the mid-to-late twentieth century, scientists conducted a series of experiments on groups of rats. In the early experiments, the rats were housed in cramped, isolated cages where they received a regular supply of food, water, and morphine. What the researchers found is that these rats would
MoreThe following prayer is reprinted with permission from the book Prayers for The New Social Awakening, ed. Christian Iosso and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty. O God, we pray for all those in recovery whose demons are kept at bay one day at a time; for those clean twenty-four hours and wondering if
MoreExcerpts The article excerpted below was originally published in Religions Journal. You can also download the full article as a PDF. Mercadante, Linda. “Sin and Addiction: Conceptual Enemies or Fellow Travelers?.” Religions 6(2) (2015): 614-625. Accessed May 14, 2015. doi:10.3390/rel6020614. Abstract: The addiction recovery metaphor of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and
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An Opening Editorial There is crystal meth, and there is a crystal against meth and all its intoxicating cousins: the amethyst. In Greek and Roman mythology, the god Dionysus or Bacchus repents of an act of intemperate anger that killed and then transformed a young woman to white stone by
MoreGod created us as co-creators and consumers. We were made to seek things to consume: to eat, to drink, and to enjoy sex. Psalm 104:14-15: You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate, to bring forth food from the earth, and wine to
MoreAn Introduction from the PC(USA)’s Drug Policy Task Force We begin with some disturbing data: The United States has less than 5% of world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated people. Even though whites outnumber blacks five to one and both groups use and sell drugs at similar rates,
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