The Relational Theology of Medicine
Kristin Collier, MD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan
Relationships have been at the heart of the practice of medicine since its inception. By its very nature and ethic, medicine is the process of the physician engaging the other. Historically, the other has been the patient and the gods. The traditional Hippocratic Oath opens by invoking gods and goddesses, speaks of making an Oath towards the Art of medicine that is for the benefit of the sick and instructs the student of medicine to have a reciprocal indebted relationship with one’s teacher. Relationship additionally lies at the center of the redemptive-historical narrative of the scriptures. Our understanding of and appreciation for relationship in medicine, that is having a “relational theology of medicine,” can only serve to help healthcare professionals embody the Oath and Art of medicine, which Hippocrates taught should be practiced. What is more, we are now seeing evidence for a relational theology of medicine expressed at the cellular level through the in utero maternal-child relationship.
Using a framework of a relational theology, seen through the lens of the scriptures, we would expect that God, being a relational being, would construct our biology in a way that is relational. In the scriptures, for example, we are told of a creator God who makes himself known to his people, who loves and cares for his children through intimate relationship, who is physically present with them, and desires that none of them should perish. The Psalmist writes that each one of us is created in a loving way by God who knitted us together in our mother’s womb. There is a relational- personal-cellular construct in humanity, witnessed through creation, and testified through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see this relational construct, even at the level of the cells, beautifully highlighted between a mother and her prenatal child. Beginning shortly after conception, in the mother’s uterus, God is involved in the creation of a person at the cellular level in a way that is active, personal, relational and physical. The inter-connectedness between the prenatal child and her mother is intimate and profound as witnessed by the cooperation that exists at the cellular level in creating the placenta, which is the only organ created by two people. In addition to the placenta, the existence of fetomaternal microchimerism provides glimpses into the cooperation and interconnectedness that exists at the cellular level between mother and child in the relational biology of mankind, which God has magnificently designed. Through the existence of fetomaternal microchimerism, we know that some human beings carry remnants of other humans in their bodies. The reality of this process challenges our long standing ideas about human beings existing as autonomous individuals. Both the transient placenta organ as well as cellular fetomaternal microchimerism reveal a radical mother-child mutuality at the cellular level. This mother-child symbiosis serves as a powerful example of relational theology in a way that speaks to interconnectedness, mystery and beauty that has been part of the practice of medicine for millenia.
Using a framework of a relational theology, seen through the lens of the scriptures, we would expect that God, being a relational being, would construct our biology in a way that is relational. In the scriptures, for example, we are told of a creator God who makes himself known to his people, who loves and cares for his children through intimate relationship, who is physically present with them, and desires that none of them should perish. The Psalmist writes that each one of us is created in a loving way by God who knitted us together in our mother’s womb. There is a relational- personal-cellular construct in humanity, witnessed through creation, and testified through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see this relational construct, even at the level of the cells, beautifully highlighted between a mother and her prenatal child. Beginning shortly after conception, in the mother’s uterus, God is involved in the creation of a person at the cellular level in a way that is active, personal, relational and physical. The inter-connectedness between the prenatal child and her mother is intimate and profound as witnessed by the cooperation that exists at the cellular level in creating the placenta, which is the only organ created by two people. In addition to the placenta, the existence of fetomaternal microchimerism provides glimpses into the cooperation and interconnectedness that exists at the cellular level between mother and child in the relational biology of mankind, which God has magnificently designed. Through the existence of fetomaternal microchimerism, we know that some human beings carry remnants of other humans in their bodies. The reality of this process challenges our long standing ideas about human beings existing as autonomous individuals. Both the transient placenta organ as well as cellular fetomaternal microchimerism reveal a radical mother-child mutuality at the cellular level. This mother-child symbiosis serves as a powerful example of relational theology in a way that speaks to interconnectedness, mystery and beauty that has been part of the practice of medicine for millenia.