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Over the course of the next seven months, I will be conducting research on reproductive theology. It is my hope to address such issues as reproductive loss (infertility, still birth, miscarriage), reproductive technology and treatments, birth control, abortion, population control; it's an exploration of the world of fertility/reproduction and faith. Further, I will be examining the inter-faith community responses to such issues as they affect primarily women, but also men.
Have you faced a reproductive issue? How did your community of faith support you or fail to support you? Do you have an opinion on a particular faith's position on a reproductive issue? Where does God exist within these issues? Are you a doctor, a holistic practitioner, a counselor, who works in the field of reproduction? If so, I'd like to hear from you. Please send your stories to coffeegodandme@yahoo.com. At this time, what you share will only be used to 1) guide and inform my research and 2) may be included in a scholarly thesis to be submitted to only one professor. Each submission will be treated as an interview, and therefore, will require you to consent to an interview authorization. If you'd rather be interviewed in person or over the phone, that too can be arranged.
It is my hope to establish an argument that women and men facing reproductive issues are a relatively neglected subculture of our national and global community. Further, it is my objective to seek ways in which the faith community can encourage, support, empower and affirm those who confront reproductive issues, even amidst a variety of belief systems. As a woman who has faced both primary and secondary infertility, it is my hope to raise awareness to the issues. As a pastor, it is my hope to listen to the voices that have been silent for so long and to discover new and better ways to offer pastoral care, guidance and encouragement to the owners of those voices. As a theologian, I seek to find God in the midst of reproductive issues and to reflect upon God from within those issues in order to discover the voice of God that exists in the suffering, the struggle, the joy, the blessings and the journey.
