"To die, or not to die, that is the question": Christian Tradition's Prophetic Voice in the Field of Longevity Medicine
Lily Weir, Duke Divinity School, and Mikaela Kim, The University of Texas Medical Branch Institute for Bioethics and Health Humanities
Lydia Dugdale begins her book with the observation that, “the people who believe most fervently in divine healing also cling most doggedly to the technology of mortals.” (Dugdale, p 6) For those of us who adhere to the Christian tradition, this paradox should not be lost on us. Dugdale uses this truth as a launchpoint to explore the Christian tradition of the Ars moriendi as a potential guide for how we might think about death and dying in the modern world. Her thoughtful examination of Christian practices and postures towards death and dying are particularly timely, as modern medicine increasingly seeks not only to prolong life but even to evade death altogether. As trainees (a bioethicist and a PA), we have observed how this desire to evade death has begun to permeate health and medical practice. We contend that the rise of longevity medicine - a medical approach dedicated to extending the human lifespan through practices such as biohacking - reflects our society’s growing fixation on prolonging life and resisting death. This leads us to a critical question: is the pursuit of immortality compatible with Christian theological understandings of life, death, illness, and medicine?
In this paper, we will examine how the growing tendency to equate health with immortality shapes clinical practice and humane life, and argue that this conflation conflicts with the Christian tradition’s understanding of death and illness. To present the scope of the problem, we will first survey various manifestations of this quest for immortality in both medical practice (from the establishment of life-sustaining treatments to the emergence of longevity medicine) and current cultural trends (including those set forth by popular biohackers such as Andrew Huberman and Bryan Johnson). Then, we will explore various responses to death and immortality espoused by the Christian tradition including the Ars moriendi and Jean-Claude Larchet’s The Theology of Illness. By drawing on the Christian healing traditions’ origins in the Basileas and Catholic Social Teaching’s emphasis on subsidiarity and the preferential option for the poor, we further contend that the Christian tradition challenges longevity medicine due to its inequitable distribution of medical care and resources.
Ultimately, we hold that resistance to longevity medicine and biohacking is central to Christian identity. This conversation must not be limited to Christian clinicians, but must also extend to clergy, as we believe that the conflation of health with longevity or immortality reflects a widespread misunderstanding of Christian doctrine. The Christian tradition offers a prophetic witness - calling both medicine and culture back to a vision of human life that embraces finitude and mortality - and this witness must extend beyond merely academia.
In this paper, we will examine how the growing tendency to equate health with immortality shapes clinical practice and humane life, and argue that this conflation conflicts with the Christian tradition’s understanding of death and illness. To present the scope of the problem, we will first survey various manifestations of this quest for immortality in both medical practice (from the establishment of life-sustaining treatments to the emergence of longevity medicine) and current cultural trends (including those set forth by popular biohackers such as Andrew Huberman and Bryan Johnson). Then, we will explore various responses to death and immortality espoused by the Christian tradition including the Ars moriendi and Jean-Claude Larchet’s The Theology of Illness. By drawing on the Christian healing traditions’ origins in the Basileas and Catholic Social Teaching’s emphasis on subsidiarity and the preferential option for the poor, we further contend that the Christian tradition challenges longevity medicine due to its inequitable distribution of medical care and resources.
Ultimately, we hold that resistance to longevity medicine and biohacking is central to Christian identity. This conversation must not be limited to Christian clinicians, but must also extend to clergy, as we believe that the conflation of health with longevity or immortality reflects a widespread misunderstanding of Christian doctrine. The Christian tradition offers a prophetic witness - calling both medicine and culture back to a vision of human life that embraces finitude and mortality - and this witness must extend beyond merely academia.