Dr. Harold Koenig - You are My Beloved, Really?

Aired Wednesday, 16 November 2016, 8:00 PM ETWhat is the relationship between faith and health? Can prayer really heal? Do believers outlive non-believers? These questions came up for me recently during a conversation with a new friend who is struggling with his health. I offered prayer and spiritual healing and he openly admitted that he does not believe in prayer or in fact, any form of divinity. In an effort to bring him some evidence of the power of faith, I began researching the topic and came across the work of Dr. Harold Koenig, my guest this week on Destination Unlimited.Dr. Koenig is currently board certified in general psychiatry, and formerly boarded in family medicine, geriatric medicine, and geriatric psychiatry, and is on the faculty at Duke University as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Koenig is Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with nearly 500 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and more than 40 books. His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on dozens of national and international TV news programs (including ABC’s World News Tonight, The Today Show, Good Morning America. Dr. Oz Show, and NBC Nightly News), over a hundred national or international radio programs, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines (including Reader’s Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Guidepost). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religion and spirituality on public health, and travels widely to give seminars and workshops on this topic. His books include The Healing Power of Faith and his latest book is You are My Beloved, Really?