From Martyrdom to Miracles: Faithful Christian Responses at the End of Life
Calvin Gross, Fellow, Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School
“We’re going to wait for a miracle.” These are the words that countless clinicians in the Unites States has heard from a patient or family deciding what treatment course to take when things hang in the balance. Many see faithfulness to God encapsulated in a need to continue life sustaining medical treatment, waiting as long as possible for God to perform a healing miracle. This places patients, families, and clinicians alike in an uncomfortable position, balancing the realities of death, the power of modern medicine, and spiritual convictions. Overall, it leads us to a larger question: What should faithfulness look like today for Christians approaching the end of life in our chaotic and secular medical system?
Authors have looked to a variety of sources to answer this question, but few have examined how the long Christian tradition of martyrdom might inform our approach. In this paper, I will argue that the writings of the church fathers, particularly Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Bonaventure can provide us with wisdom for our current predicament. Using their discussions of martyrdom, I will explore how Christians might envision the end of life and inevitability of death as opportunities for union with God, edification of the Church, and Christian witness, rather than a testing of the will in which death cannot be accepted. In this way, we will see how Christian history allows us to re-imagine what faithfulness might be.
Authors have looked to a variety of sources to answer this question, but few have examined how the long Christian tradition of martyrdom might inform our approach. In this paper, I will argue that the writings of the church fathers, particularly Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Bonaventure can provide us with wisdom for our current predicament. Using their discussions of martyrdom, I will explore how Christians might envision the end of life and inevitability of death as opportunities for union with God, edification of the Church, and Christian witness, rather than a testing of the will in which death cannot be accepted. In this way, we will see how Christian history allows us to re-imagine what faithfulness might be.