Suffering, Presence, and Advocacy: Lessons from Scripture
Joshua R. Snyder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Practice in Theological Ethics Boston College
In responding to this year’s theme of “Medicine and Faithful Responses to Suffering” this paper will argue for a theological response to human suffering rooted in both the ministry of presence and social advocacy. This paper will examine how scripture can support efforts aimed at being present to and advocating for persons with disability and illness. Specifically, by engaging the Book of Job, the Healing of the Woman with the Hemorrhage, and the Gerasene Demoniac this paper will articulate an ethical approach to human suffering that is rooted in mutual presence and the transformation of unjust structures.
First the paper will offer a theological analysis of suffering, illness, and healing from a Judeo-Christian perspective. I will argue that illness is both a threat to the wellbeing (shalom) God intended humanity to experience as well as an opportunity to radically encounter God’s transformative love. I will then examine how even with the best of intentions human responses to disability and illness can exacerbate the suffering of the ill person. For example, in the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage the evangelist notes, “She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had.” Likewise, the advice of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to Job further complicates the latter’s physical suffering by compounding it with erroneous theological justifications for his suffering.
The second part of the paper focuses on how these passages can positively support the development of an ethic of mutual presence and advocacy in response to human suffering. The three narratives take an unexpected twist in that they take those suffering illness beyond what they had initially anticipated. The passages make it clear that the concept of healing and salvation overlap, and are not completely distinguishable. Healing of the body is never purely physical, and salvation is never purely spiritual, but both are combined in the total deliverance of the whole human being. Health as wholeness includes physical, emotional, mental and communal wellbeing. The work of healing and salvation is not performed in in isolation but rather as part of a community engaged in cultivating practices that care for the body and the soul. Additionally, the three passages challenge the reader to move from a position of presence to a stance of advocacy on behalf of the person who is suffering.
First the paper will offer a theological analysis of suffering, illness, and healing from a Judeo-Christian perspective. I will argue that illness is both a threat to the wellbeing (shalom) God intended humanity to experience as well as an opportunity to radically encounter God’s transformative love. I will then examine how even with the best of intentions human responses to disability and illness can exacerbate the suffering of the ill person. For example, in the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage the evangelist notes, “She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had.” Likewise, the advice of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to Job further complicates the latter’s physical suffering by compounding it with erroneous theological justifications for his suffering.
The second part of the paper focuses on how these passages can positively support the development of an ethic of mutual presence and advocacy in response to human suffering. The three narratives take an unexpected twist in that they take those suffering illness beyond what they had initially anticipated. The passages make it clear that the concept of healing and salvation overlap, and are not completely distinguishable. Healing of the body is never purely physical, and salvation is never purely spiritual, but both are combined in the total deliverance of the whole human being. Health as wholeness includes physical, emotional, mental and communal wellbeing. The work of healing and salvation is not performed in in isolation but rather as part of a community engaged in cultivating practices that care for the body and the soul. Additionally, the three passages challenge the reader to move from a position of presence to a stance of advocacy on behalf of the person who is suffering.