Battle Metaphors in Medicine and a Christian Interpretation
Nancy Romer, MD, PhD student, Graduate Assistant, University of Dayton
In July 2017, Sen. John McCain reported that he had a brain tumor and President Barack Obama quickly tweeted: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I've ever known. Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John.”
This paper examines the use of war metaphors in our attempt to negotiate the complex space of illness and suffering, and it is my contention that these attempts are ultimately counterproductive because in contemporary America they are rooted in a confidence in human agency and power that has no regard for God’s work in the world.
Metaphor is the way we make sense and attempt to understand the world, especially in spaces that are abstract, confusing, and mysterious. Illness and suffering are such spaces, so it is not uncommon to find metaphors used within this space. While the use of war metaphors has scriptural roots that are based on cooperation with God’s plan, the contemporary use of this metaphor, especially in medicine, is rooted in a belief in human agency which produces a sense of power over illness and death that we ultimately do not have. We are thus left with a feeling of failure because we failed in our mission to defeat the enemy that is illness and death. As a result, illness and death become a consequence of our lack of will, strength, or technological expertise and not part of the human condition. We are not subject to illness and death because we are human but because we have failed to win the war.
My paper looks at the role that metaphors play in human understanding, the scriptural roots of war metaphors in the encounter with evil, and the specific ways that war metaphors in breast cancer culture emphasize human agency while excluding God’s compassion and mercy. It is this use of war metaphors which ultimately fails to help us understand and cope with illness. Religion and spirituality have a unique opportunity to alter this understanding of illness so that the sick and suffering do not feel abandoned by a system that ultimately cannot provide hope for cure. Instead, spirituality and religion call us to care for the sick, when we are unable to cure, and provide means to understand our own finitude and the role God’s compassion and mercy plays in relieving our suffering.
In July 2017, Sen. John McCain reported that he had a brain tumor and President Barack Obama quickly tweeted: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I've ever known. Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John.”
This paper examines the use of war metaphors in our attempt to negotiate the complex space of illness and suffering, and it is my contention that these attempts are ultimately counterproductive because in contemporary America they are rooted in a confidence in human agency and power that has no regard for God’s work in the world.
Metaphor is the way we make sense and attempt to understand the world, especially in spaces that are abstract, confusing, and mysterious. Illness and suffering are such spaces, so it is not uncommon to find metaphors used within this space. While the use of war metaphors has scriptural roots that are based on cooperation with God’s plan, the contemporary use of this metaphor, especially in medicine, is rooted in a belief in human agency which produces a sense of power over illness and death that we ultimately do not have. We are thus left with a feeling of failure because we failed in our mission to defeat the enemy that is illness and death. As a result, illness and death become a consequence of our lack of will, strength, or technological expertise and not part of the human condition. We are not subject to illness and death because we are human but because we have failed to win the war.
My paper looks at the role that metaphors play in human understanding, the scriptural roots of war metaphors in the encounter with evil, and the specific ways that war metaphors in breast cancer culture emphasize human agency while excluding God’s compassion and mercy. It is this use of war metaphors which ultimately fails to help us understand and cope with illness. Religion and spirituality have a unique opportunity to alter this understanding of illness so that the sick and suffering do not feel abandoned by a system that ultimately cannot provide hope for cure. Instead, spirituality and religion call us to care for the sick, when we are unable to cure, and provide means to understand our own finitude and the role God’s compassion and mercy plays in relieving our suffering.