Read a 2013 comparative analysis of faith-based and secular interventions and treatments for substance abusers.

Read a 2001 CASAColumbia study that dives into the link between religion and spirituality and substance abuse.

Read a study conducted by the American Psychological Association revealing that adolescents’ perceived importance on religion and spirituality cut their interaction with drug use in half compared to adolescents who did not view religion as important.

Read a 2013 study by the National Center for Biotechnology Institute that claims good mental health is associated with religious belief or participation.

A comprehensive primer on addiction and treatment approaches is available from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Andrew Jones, a New Zealander and a pivotal emerging thinker, has been blogging tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com since 2001 – a long time as these things go. He is project director for the Boaz Project, based in the Czech Republic and developing “a support structure for church in the emerging culture.”

Read about Tenebrae services and their recreation of the emotional aspects of the passion story on the Rev. Ken Collins’ web site.

Read a September 2005 Christianity Today article on New Monasticism.

Siroj Sorajjakool is an associate professor of religion at Loma Linda University in California. Sorajjakool wrote When Sickness Heals: The Place of Religious Belief in Healthcare (Templeton Foundation Press, forthcoming in April 2006) and co-edited Spirituality, Health and Wholeness: An Introductory Guide for Health Care Professionals (Haworth Press, 2004). Contact through the media office for the university.