{PDF} Prescribing Faith: Medicine, Media and Religion in American Culture Claire Hoertz Badaracco

The power of both medicine and prayer to heal are often media headlines. Not explored is how media itself has shaped popular ideas about religion and health. Prescribing Faith traces the confluence of medicine, media and religion from mid-nineteenth century American culture to the present day. Badaracco examines how media portrays the relationship between religious faith and medicine, showing that the relationship is one fraught with conflict of interest, controversy, and paradox. Prescribing Faith offers valuable insight into deconstructing religion and medicine as shaped by today’s media. Winner of the 2007 ForeWord Magazine Gold Medal in Religion