Steve James (left), a pro- fessor at Gettysburg [Pa.] College, and Leonard Hummel (right), a pro- fessor at the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg, work with students in a laboratory, studying DNA damage responses and other cancer-related pro- cesses. The two professors are working together on a book about cancer, science and faith.
in a time when genetic developments promise immense changes and
human genome. Much of his research focuses on the way cells reproduce—an important subject for the pursuit of cancer treatment and developing ways to interrupt the wrong molecular reproduction. As a professor of pastoral theology, Hummel has pub- lished and lectured on cancer and religion, and serves as consultant to the ELCA Genetics Task Force. His interest in pastoral theology and suffering extends to the way in which Lutheran theology uses scientific knowledge to broaden understanding of religious impulses. He believes his focus can help scientific communities appreciate faith perspec- tives on cancer and religious communities to gain a better understanding of cancer and the role evolutionary theory plays in human disease and suffering.
In their research and teaching, Hummel and James
don’t shy away from addressing the mysterious questions of chance, cell behavior, evolution and meaning. Cancer is a product of biological evolution, constituted by chance (random occurrences) and sometimes more predictable mutations, both say. While religious perspectives abound regarding evolution, remarkably few of these address the evolutionary underpinnings of cancer. Hummel focuses on how religious perspectives on evolution inform—and transform—our comprehension of cancer. Why pursue these questions? Hummel believes “this evolutionary theology of cancer will reveal the element of love-divine and human” amid the evolutionary chance and inevitability of cancer. Their work shows how theologians and scientists may
together address cancer and other mysteries of human existence.
“Lutheran tradition has a long history of preparing
leaders who are learned in the general education of sci- ences and the humanities,” Hummel said. “Leadership
challenges makes this education ever more crucial.” Helping meet that need, Hummel sent seminarians across town to Gettysburg College to work with its students in a lab for “Biological Basics of Disease.” It’s a course James teaches to help non-science majors explore cancer, aging, infectious diseases, hereditary diseases, immune system breakdowns including HIV and AIDS, and diseases of civilization and lifestyle (heart disease, obesity and some cancers).
The experience offered “aha” moments, along with some discomfort. Seminarians learned both science and theology. College students saw that good theology is not anti-science. It made Elizabeth Arter, a senior seminarian, ask, “Where is God in the midst of the great suffering that accompanies cancer?” She said it helps to know something of how cancer works when meeting people who have the disease.
Hummel speaks of Michael Bishop, son of a Lutheran pastor at St. James Lutheran Church, where James is a member. Bishop, a former Gettysburg College student, went on to receive a Nobel Prize for cancer research. “Steve and I have been inspired by [his] work and by the Nobel Prize medallion that he donated to the college, [which] is on display at the Science Center,” Hummel said.
Faith is often a struggle for anyone, no less for James, who lives and teaches scientific research. So he takes a wide perspective. “At the moment,” he said, “I am a scientist who practiced faith actively in the recent past and has shifted from active practice to a more distanced view. ... I am mulling it over. I am intrigued by faith-science questions, and this is part of my own jour- ney: to find a path by engaging with Leonard over the book and the issues that we are working on together.”
July 2011 17
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