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Jeremy McKay, MTS

Jeremy Mckay, who is on track to receive both the master of theology degree from Harvard Divinity School and an MD from Harvard Medical School in June 2008, believes that people who see science and religion in opposition should be reminded of what Einstein said: "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

Harvard, Jeremy believes, is a place where it is natural for science and religion to work together "to the betterment of each other," and he cites as an example of this a recent HDS symposium on embryonic stem cell research in which theologians, bio-ethicists, and scientists engaged in a lively, friendly debate. In blending the claims of religion and medicine in his own career, this future surgical oncologist says he is relying on a foundation of Christian ethical understanding, which includes Jesus' emphasis on loving God and one's neighbors.

"I had always been interested in theology," Jeremy says, in further explaining his attraction to interdisciplinary work at Harvard. "I had always been interested in spirituality and healing, and in bioethics and Christian ethics." Looking back on the educational journey that has taken him back and forth across the Charles River, from the medical campus in Boston to the Divinity School in Cambridge, Jeremy says that his faith has been deepened: "Coming to HDS I became more in tune with my spiritual self and my understanding that Christianity was not what I was brought up with in my church, but what spirituality was to me."

Profile Posted July 2007. Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell.