Reclaiming the Body: Christians and the Faithful Use of Modern Medicine

Baker Pub Group, February 2006. Paper Back. New. 'The grace that is the health of creatures can only be held in common,' writes Wendell Berry in <i>What Are People For?</i> 'In healing the scattered members come together. In health the flesh is graced, the holy enters the world.' Rather than approaching the complex topic of modern medicine from the standpoint of Christian ethics or endorsing an alternative Christian medical establishment, Joel Shuman (a professor of moral theology) and Brian Volck (a pediatrician) predicate their approach on the theological traditions of the church in the hope of establishing a working relationship between Christians and modern medicine. Shuman and Volck begin their discussion with a diagnosis: 'most North American Christians approach medicine without much consideration of its relation to their theological convictions.' Categorizing medicine amidst the New Testament's 'powers and principalities' (institutional entities from which we derive much good yet which have the capacity to entangle us), they set about rediscovering the many theological meanings of 'body,' interacting with the texts of Wendell Berry, Alexander Schmemann, John Howard Yoder, Aidan Kavanaugh, Elaine Scarry, Gregory of Nyssa, Stanley Hauerwas, and more. In the remaining chapters they address particular situations such as fertility treatment, healthcare in third world countries, and the ability to die well. While <i>Reclaiming the Body</i> offers no hard and fast solutions, it solidly reminds us to live as Christ's Body by serving one another (especially in sickness) for the health of all.