Three Recent Books on Medicine and Religion
Gary Ferngren, PhD, Oregon State University
Dan Sulmasy, MD, PhD, University of Chicago
John Peteet, MD, Harvard University
Michael Balboni, PhD, Harvard University (Moderator)
Gary B. Ferngren
Medicine and Religion: A Historical Introduction (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (in press, forthcoming, Spring, 2014)
While there are many books that deal with medicine and religion, and still more that explore or describe the broader subjects of spirituality and healing, broad historical surveys of the subject are relatively uncommon. In the past half-century the social history of medicine has attracted a good deal of attention from professional historians. During that time much new scholarship, the result of the renaissance of interest in the history of medicine, has greatly extended our knowledge of every historical era of medical history. The present volume both incorporates that scholarship and carries forward the historical treatment to the modern age. I have not written a scholarly monograph but rather an introduction that is intended for non-specialists who wish to gain an understanding of the place of religion in the Western medical and healing traditions. My purpose is to provide a concise but comprehensive survey that traces the history of the intersection of medicine and healing in the religious traditions of the Western world from the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt to our own era. I deal in successive civilizations with a range of healing and health-care issues, such as concepts of health, the causes and cure of disease, medical ethics, theodicy, beneficence, religious healing, secularization, alternative healing, and consolation) within both the polytheistic belief systems of the ancient world and the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
John Peteet
The Soul of Medicine: Spirituality and Worldview in Clinical Practice. Edited by John R. Peteet and Michael N. D'Ambra. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Press, 2011)
As co-directors of the Harvard Medical School course Spirituality and Healing in Medicine, we felt the need for a basic text that could prepare students for dealing with the spiritual and “worldview” dimensions of their interactions with patients as they make the pivotal transition from student to physician. We hope that this book fills this need by focusing on the implications of patients’ and clinicians’ spirituality, and the clinical relevance of both spiritual/religious beliefs and secular perspectives.
Part I reviews the historical relationship between spirituality and medicine, highlights current challenges and suggests a framework for approaching spirituality in a range of clinical contexts.
Part II presents the relationships of the major traditions to modern medicine. Each chapter author in this section addresses the following questions: What narrative or idea in your tradition helps to define the ultimate nature and essential concerns of human beings? What resources for living well does your tradition offer? What insights about life and healing does your tradition provide?
How does your tradition challenge or reinforce contemporary medical practice? How do faith and culture influence each other in your tradition? How do you access and address spirituality in your clinical practice? How do your beliefs influence your practice? Part III presents implications and applications of the differences among worldviews in the areas of ethics, professionalism, pastoral care, and medical education. We hope that this book, while focused on the practical importance of spirituality in medicine, will prove useful to a wider audience of caregivers, patients, and those involved with the leadership of health care delivery systems.
Daniel P. Sulmasy
Safe Passage: A Global Spiritual Sourcebook for Care at the End of Life. Edited by Mark Lazenby, PhD, Ruth McCorkle, RN, PhD, and Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, PhD. (New York: Oxford University Press, in press, expected January 2014).
What is a good death? While this question has been asked from time immemorial, this book asks it in a modern way. What is a good death in a modern health care environment and in a globalized world? In this book, we describe palliative and hospice care—its history and current state—in the major regions of the world, with particular attention to the spiritual and religious aspects of care at the end of life. Then we use cases set in global context to draw out some of the difficult issues that we all face before death, at the time of death, and after death. Clinicians, ethicists, and thinkers from thirteen of the world’s most common spiritual traditions respond to each case, telling us how their traditions would go about fostering a good death for loved ones, friends, fellow worshipers, and patients. Yet, no one existing volume pulls together perspectives from a diverse array of religions with ethical dilemmas and clinical problems in view. Safe Passage coaches clinicians and others on the front lines of care on understanding how to incorporate different traditions of thinking into the most difficult of moments around the end of life. The book is structured around five major moments of realization - when disease progresses, when emergencies happen, when dying will be a long process, the time of death, and when grieving begins. Each decision point is introduced with a research summary and an extensive case example that describes disease processes, health care delivery possibilities, and the end-of-life dilemmas involved so as to apply across the varying cultural, socio-economic, and spiritual contexts. The case example is followed by a clinical commentary written by a palliative care specialist, an ethical commentary written by an ethicist, and three short essays written by religious thinkers of different traditions. Each situation is concluded by remarks on potential approaches that respect religious and spiritual beliefs, values, and practices at the end of life across all contexts, and a bibliography. The five decision points are book-ended by an introductory section that explores broad historical and cultural perspectives and a conclusion section that summarizes the book and provides guidance for further reading and study.
Dan Sulmasy, MD, PhD, University of Chicago
John Peteet, MD, Harvard University
Michael Balboni, PhD, Harvard University (Moderator)
Gary B. Ferngren
Medicine and Religion: A Historical Introduction (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (in press, forthcoming, Spring, 2014)
While there are many books that deal with medicine and religion, and still more that explore or describe the broader subjects of spirituality and healing, broad historical surveys of the subject are relatively uncommon. In the past half-century the social history of medicine has attracted a good deal of attention from professional historians. During that time much new scholarship, the result of the renaissance of interest in the history of medicine, has greatly extended our knowledge of every historical era of medical history. The present volume both incorporates that scholarship and carries forward the historical treatment to the modern age. I have not written a scholarly monograph but rather an introduction that is intended for non-specialists who wish to gain an understanding of the place of religion in the Western medical and healing traditions. My purpose is to provide a concise but comprehensive survey that traces the history of the intersection of medicine and healing in the religious traditions of the Western world from the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt to our own era. I deal in successive civilizations with a range of healing and health-care issues, such as concepts of health, the causes and cure of disease, medical ethics, theodicy, beneficence, religious healing, secularization, alternative healing, and consolation) within both the polytheistic belief systems of the ancient world and the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
John Peteet
The Soul of Medicine: Spirituality and Worldview in Clinical Practice. Edited by John R. Peteet and Michael N. D'Ambra. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Press, 2011)
As co-directors of the Harvard Medical School course Spirituality and Healing in Medicine, we felt the need for a basic text that could prepare students for dealing with the spiritual and “worldview” dimensions of their interactions with patients as they make the pivotal transition from student to physician. We hope that this book fills this need by focusing on the implications of patients’ and clinicians’ spirituality, and the clinical relevance of both spiritual/religious beliefs and secular perspectives.
Part I reviews the historical relationship between spirituality and medicine, highlights current challenges and suggests a framework for approaching spirituality in a range of clinical contexts.
Part II presents the relationships of the major traditions to modern medicine. Each chapter author in this section addresses the following questions: What narrative or idea in your tradition helps to define the ultimate nature and essential concerns of human beings? What resources for living well does your tradition offer? What insights about life and healing does your tradition provide?
How does your tradition challenge or reinforce contemporary medical practice? How do faith and culture influence each other in your tradition? How do you access and address spirituality in your clinical practice? How do your beliefs influence your practice? Part III presents implications and applications of the differences among worldviews in the areas of ethics, professionalism, pastoral care, and medical education. We hope that this book, while focused on the practical importance of spirituality in medicine, will prove useful to a wider audience of caregivers, patients, and those involved with the leadership of health care delivery systems.
Daniel P. Sulmasy
Safe Passage: A Global Spiritual Sourcebook for Care at the End of Life. Edited by Mark Lazenby, PhD, Ruth McCorkle, RN, PhD, and Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, PhD. (New York: Oxford University Press, in press, expected January 2014).
What is a good death? While this question has been asked from time immemorial, this book asks it in a modern way. What is a good death in a modern health care environment and in a globalized world? In this book, we describe palliative and hospice care—its history and current state—in the major regions of the world, with particular attention to the spiritual and religious aspects of care at the end of life. Then we use cases set in global context to draw out some of the difficult issues that we all face before death, at the time of death, and after death. Clinicians, ethicists, and thinkers from thirteen of the world’s most common spiritual traditions respond to each case, telling us how their traditions would go about fostering a good death for loved ones, friends, fellow worshipers, and patients. Yet, no one existing volume pulls together perspectives from a diverse array of religions with ethical dilemmas and clinical problems in view. Safe Passage coaches clinicians and others on the front lines of care on understanding how to incorporate different traditions of thinking into the most difficult of moments around the end of life. The book is structured around five major moments of realization - when disease progresses, when emergencies happen, when dying will be a long process, the time of death, and when grieving begins. Each decision point is introduced with a research summary and an extensive case example that describes disease processes, health care delivery possibilities, and the end-of-life dilemmas involved so as to apply across the varying cultural, socio-economic, and spiritual contexts. The case example is followed by a clinical commentary written by a palliative care specialist, an ethical commentary written by an ethicist, and three short essays written by religious thinkers of different traditions. Each situation is concluded by remarks on potential approaches that respect religious and spiritual beliefs, values, and practices at the end of life across all contexts, and a bibliography. The five decision points are book-ended by an introductory section that explores broad historical and cultural perspectives and a conclusion section that summarizes the book and provides guidance for further reading and study.