Healing as a work of God: A Theo-Ethical Analysis
Joshua Synder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Theology & Ethics, LaBoure College
This paper will argue against the Western trend of bifurcating care of the soul from care of the body. As Max Weber pointed out a century ago, modern society treats the human being as a substance to be manipulated and controlled. The current technocratic paradigm views health care as merely the application of the latest scientific knowledge and technique, without concern for the spiritual nature of the human being. Similarly, modern medicine is divorced from any notion of the clinician participating in “a healing work of God.” In juxtaposition to this current trend, this paper will address how illness, health and healing are religious experiences requiring analysis through a theological-ethical paradigm. Specifically, this paper will highlight the importance of understanding the physician as co-operating in the healing work of God and recover Christian practices aimed at restoring holistic well-being to those suffering from illness.
First the paper will offer a theological analysis of illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. I will argue that illness is both a threat to the well-being (shalom) God intended humanity to experience as well as an opportunity to radically encounter God’s transformative love. Similarly, I will examine health in terms of the Hebrew idea of shalom. In this way, health is wholeness; it includes physical, emotional, mental and communal well-being. Shalom stands in protest against illness and necessitates theological reflection on healing. I will argue that the healing ministry of Jesus and the early Christian community brought together both the spiritual and material dimensions of health and well-being.
The second part of the paper focuses on recovering a vision of the physician as co-operating in the healing work of God. This work is not performed in isolation but rather as part of a Christian community engaged in developing practices aimed at care of both body and soul. In using the term practices, I am building on the work of Alasdair MacIntyre whereby practices are coherent and complex forms of established cooperative human activity directed toward the goods internal to that form of activity. Spiritual practices formed and informed by the Christian community seek to make present God’s transformative healing within the world. In this regard, the physician serves as a sacramental presence of God’s healing to those who are unwell.
This paper will argue against the Western trend of bifurcating care of the soul from care of the body. As Max Weber pointed out a century ago, modern society treats the human being as a substance to be manipulated and controlled. The current technocratic paradigm views health care as merely the application of the latest scientific knowledge and technique, without concern for the spiritual nature of the human being. Similarly, modern medicine is divorced from any notion of the clinician participating in “a healing work of God.” In juxtaposition to this current trend, this paper will address how illness, health and healing are religious experiences requiring analysis through a theological-ethical paradigm. Specifically, this paper will highlight the importance of understanding the physician as co-operating in the healing work of God and recover Christian practices aimed at restoring holistic well-being to those suffering from illness.
First the paper will offer a theological analysis of illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. I will argue that illness is both a threat to the well-being (shalom) God intended humanity to experience as well as an opportunity to radically encounter God’s transformative love. Similarly, I will examine health in terms of the Hebrew idea of shalom. In this way, health is wholeness; it includes physical, emotional, mental and communal well-being. Shalom stands in protest against illness and necessitates theological reflection on healing. I will argue that the healing ministry of Jesus and the early Christian community brought together both the spiritual and material dimensions of health and well-being.
The second part of the paper focuses on recovering a vision of the physician as co-operating in the healing work of God. This work is not performed in isolation but rather as part of a Christian community engaged in developing practices aimed at care of both body and soul. In using the term practices, I am building on the work of Alasdair MacIntyre whereby practices are coherent and complex forms of established cooperative human activity directed toward the goods internal to that form of activity. Spiritual practices formed and informed by the Christian community seek to make present God’s transformative healing within the world. In this regard, the physician serves as a sacramental presence of God’s healing to those who are unwell.