Teología en la clínica: Latinx theology, accompaniment, and salud en conjunto
Moderator: C. Phifer Nicholson, Jr., Theology, Medicine and Culture Fellow, and MD Candidate, Duke University
Panelists: Victoria Yunez-Behm, MS, CNS, LDN, TMC Fellow, Duke University & Adjunct Faculty, Maryland University of Integrative Health; Peter Casarella, Professor of Theology, Duke Divinity School; Annika Dirkse, TMC Fellow, Duke Divinity School and Medical Student, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Alex Lion, DO, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine; Alex Rosenbaum, Resident Physician, Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Latinx theology is a diverse set of theological understandings that takes life from the experiences of Latinos/as living in the United States. Though it encompasses a wide net of influences and beliefs, several key concepts emerge including teología en conjunto, lo cotidiano, and solidarity with the poor and oppressed. Teología en conjunto means theology in community or collaborative theology, positing that theology is developed, understood, and lived out in community and through demonstrations of popular religion. Therefore, Latinx theology rejects “any view of theology that understands the theological task as a purely...rational exercise divorced from the everyday life and actions” of the faithful. Instead “Christian faith must be understood as a lived commitment...to know God is to do justice. To love God is to love one’s neighbor.”[1] Latinx theology privileges the everyday, lo cotidiano, which refers to the physical, cultural, relational, and historical elements that make up the everyday lived experience of most people in the world as they struggle for survival.[2] Latinx theologians such as Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz and Virgilio Elizondo celebrate the creativity displayed as a result of the difficulties of this lived existence and affirm the presence of God within this struggle.[3] For many Latinos/as, this lived reality also includes a sense of belonging to multiple places, of living between, and of occupying a borderland—sometimes both geographically and culturally/metaphorically.
Many Latinx theologians were and continue to be influenced by Latin American liberation theology and its core concept of a preferential option for the poor, which provides a framework for relation to both God and neighbor. The theological concept of accompaniment further articulates a means to faithfully engage with this preferential option for the poor: through deep, meaningful relationships with particular poor persons, not simply “the poor” as an abstract group. According to Roberto Goizueta, this approach demands that the faithful choose to come in close proximity to marginalized people, receiving and being received by them as compañeros and compañeras—friends—in a mutual pursuit of justice and wholeness.[4] This is a profoundly reciprocal relationship, one in which both parties have a claim and influence on the other.
The panel consists of a professor of theology, attending pediatric neuro-oncologist, pediatrics resident, medical trainees, and nutritionist. The goal will be to discuss the existing and potential overlaps between Latinx theology and healthcare. Panelists will start by discussing the natural affinity between liberation theology and health care established in the work of organizations like Partners in Health, Health for Palestine, and more, serving to motivate and sustain long-term “pragmatic solidarity” with poor communities in the U.S. and abroad.[5] Further, previous work has explored the intersection of the theology of accompaniment and medicine.[6] The panelists will then explore this connection with a particular focus on the discipline of pediatrics, which already employs methodology of accompaniment through the presence of child life specialists, education specialists, social workers, and complex care clinics. Because children more obviously, legally, and necessarily depend on the adults that support them, the concept of health within that community of support comes more naturally than in clinical settings that serve supposedly independent adults. We will suggest that the idea of teologia en conjunto could speak into a parallel concept of salud en conjunto--health in community or health together—that might inform the broader practice of medicine regardless of specialty or social location.
Drawing on the concept of reciprocal relationship, panelists will not only consider concepts from Latinx Theology that can influence the practice of medicine but will also explore the theology underlying the lived experience of the suffering poor within the medical system, particularly those of Latinx origin. This is rooted in an understanding of accompaniment as a manner of approaching clinical practice as well as a theological methodology—at the end of which is communion between clinician and patient, justice, and, even, encounter with the divine in the Other.
Works Cited
Elizondo, Virgilio P. Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000.
Farmer, Paul. Pathologies of Power. London: University of California Press, 2004.
Farmer, Paul and Gustavo Gutiérrez. In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2013.
Goizueta, Roberto S. Caminemos Con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995.
“Human Rights Through Health” Health for Palestine. Accessed October 28, 2021. https://www.healthforpalestine.org/mission-statement.
Isasi-Diaz, Ada Maria. La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004.
Nicholson Jr., C. Phifer. “Made Known in the Breaking of the Bread: Accompaniment in the Practice of Medicine.” The Linacre Quarterly 88, no. 3 (2021): 281-290.
[1] Roberto S Goizueta, Caminemos Con Jesus: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995), 78.
[2] Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004), 97.
[3] Virgilio P Elizondo, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000).
[4] Goizueta, Caminemos.
[5] Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power (London: University of California Press, 2004; and “Human Rights Through Health” Health for Palestine. Accessed October 28, 2021. https://www.healthforpalestine.org/mission-statement
[6] Paul Farmer and Gustavo Gutierrez, In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2013); C. Phifer Nicholson Jr, “Made Known in the Breaking of the Bread: Accompaniment in the Practice of Medicine,” The Linacre Quarterly 88, no. 3 (2021).
Many Latinx theologians were and continue to be influenced by Latin American liberation theology and its core concept of a preferential option for the poor, which provides a framework for relation to both God and neighbor. The theological concept of accompaniment further articulates a means to faithfully engage with this preferential option for the poor: through deep, meaningful relationships with particular poor persons, not simply “the poor” as an abstract group. According to Roberto Goizueta, this approach demands that the faithful choose to come in close proximity to marginalized people, receiving and being received by them as compañeros and compañeras—friends—in a mutual pursuit of justice and wholeness.[4] This is a profoundly reciprocal relationship, one in which both parties have a claim and influence on the other.
The panel consists of a professor of theology, attending pediatric neuro-oncologist, pediatrics resident, medical trainees, and nutritionist. The goal will be to discuss the existing and potential overlaps between Latinx theology and healthcare. Panelists will start by discussing the natural affinity between liberation theology and health care established in the work of organizations like Partners in Health, Health for Palestine, and more, serving to motivate and sustain long-term “pragmatic solidarity” with poor communities in the U.S. and abroad.[5] Further, previous work has explored the intersection of the theology of accompaniment and medicine.[6] The panelists will then explore this connection with a particular focus on the discipline of pediatrics, which already employs methodology of accompaniment through the presence of child life specialists, education specialists, social workers, and complex care clinics. Because children more obviously, legally, and necessarily depend on the adults that support them, the concept of health within that community of support comes more naturally than in clinical settings that serve supposedly independent adults. We will suggest that the idea of teologia en conjunto could speak into a parallel concept of salud en conjunto--health in community or health together—that might inform the broader practice of medicine regardless of specialty or social location.
Drawing on the concept of reciprocal relationship, panelists will not only consider concepts from Latinx Theology that can influence the practice of medicine but will also explore the theology underlying the lived experience of the suffering poor within the medical system, particularly those of Latinx origin. This is rooted in an understanding of accompaniment as a manner of approaching clinical practice as well as a theological methodology—at the end of which is communion between clinician and patient, justice, and, even, encounter with the divine in the Other.
Works Cited
Elizondo, Virgilio P. Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000.
Farmer, Paul. Pathologies of Power. London: University of California Press, 2004.
Farmer, Paul and Gustavo Gutiérrez. In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2013.
Goizueta, Roberto S. Caminemos Con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995.
“Human Rights Through Health” Health for Palestine. Accessed October 28, 2021. https://www.healthforpalestine.org/mission-statement.
Isasi-Diaz, Ada Maria. La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004.
Nicholson Jr., C. Phifer. “Made Known in the Breaking of the Bread: Accompaniment in the Practice of Medicine.” The Linacre Quarterly 88, no. 3 (2021): 281-290.
[1] Roberto S Goizueta, Caminemos Con Jesus: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995), 78.
[2] Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2004), 97.
[3] Virgilio P Elizondo, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000).
[4] Goizueta, Caminemos.
[5] Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power (London: University of California Press, 2004; and “Human Rights Through Health” Health for Palestine. Accessed October 28, 2021. https://www.healthforpalestine.org/mission-statement
[6] Paul Farmer and Gustavo Gutierrez, In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2013); C. Phifer Nicholson Jr, “Made Known in the Breaking of the Bread: Accompaniment in the Practice of Medicine,” The Linacre Quarterly 88, no. 3 (2021).