Love in a time of Ebola: reflections on theology of medicine in resource-challenged environments (original) (raw)
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The Passion to Heal: A Theological Pastoral Approach to HIV/AIDS
Zygon, 2004
The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS is the most significant challenge of our time. The ongoing conversation between religion and science comes to a critical juncture in this pandemic. The global community has not yet found a vaccine or cure for this virulent virus, which will likely claim five million more lives in the coming year. The global statistics challenge even the most sophisticated imagination, with projections in the tens of millions of people dead, orphaned children, and many more living in various stages of incapacitation or diminished lives. There is a common prophetic religious imperative among Western faith communities that urgently requires both science and religion to respond. Both disciplines define their scope and purpose as universal, and the global pandemic provides a significant challenge to that universal claim. Regardless of the many differences among the nations and peoples challenged by this pandemic, there is a common moral foundation to which the Western religious and scientific traditions must respond. Religion and science cannot deny their respective social responsibilities by claiming the role of neutral bystander. There are several critical ethical choices to be made in response to the pandemic, and the disciplines of religion and science are critical in formulating those choices.
Public theology and health care
Public theology’s mission is to constantly remind the health care sector – easily colonized by the powers of money and market – of the divine compassionate care, as the original ‘why’ and ‘what for’ of our care for human bodies and minds. This chapter presents two contributions of public theology to health care, one concerned with the goals of health care (what is health?), the other with its values and virtues (what is good care?) Through Christianity, health care became a public affair, a matter of institutionalized compassion. Health care should contribute to a person’s capability to ‘live upright’. Curing is one important, but no decisive element in a comprehensive understanding of health care. Central to Christian anthropology is the recognition that human beings are interdependent, vulnerable, and relational. The ‘ethics of care’ presents itself as a powerful ally of public theology.
This paper seeks to answer the question: What differentiates and determines a "harmful" versus a "healing" Christian response to human suffering and what can be learned or implicated from such an understanding for contemporary spiritual care praxis? To do this it explores Christian typological responses to the AIDS epidemic in North America, “Blaming the Victim” versus “Embracing the Exile,” as they have been defined by sociology scholar Mark R. Kowalewski. The AIDS epidemic was and is a tremendous source of human suffering and the aim of this paper is to learn from these two evidenced Christian responses to the AIDS crisis and arrive at fruitful insight for spiritual care praxis today.
Hiv/Aids and Human Suffering: Where on Earth is God?
Scriptura, 2012
This article reflects on the classic theodicy problem in relationship with HIV/Aids. It first offers some general comments about the very need to address the theodicy problem. A next section offers an analysis of various sources of human suffering which is then related to an overview of some of the dominant theodicies in current theological discourse. These discussions are brought together in a final section which investigates various possible answers to the question: Where is God amidst the suffering associated with the HIV/Aids pandemic? The article concludes that one of the many challenges that HIV/Aids pose to Christian communities is to offer a plausible account of each aspect of the Christian faith.
Divine mercy spirituality in response to the pandemic
International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 2020
This paper proposes a kind of spirituality that deals with devotion to Jesus, the Divine Mercy. This spirituality hopes to help people cope during the time of the pandemic. The mixed method in the form of survey and review of related literature were used. Devotion can mean growing in personal holiness and witnessing to others. It can be an attitude of caring about God and of His creations especially those afflicted by the illness. This disease is affecting the local and global communities at large. With the outbreak of the disease, there is a calling for all to respond by trusting in the Divine Mercy and healing of Jesus Christ. There are suggestions to strengthen the body, soul, and spirit of the person. Hence, this research paper hopes to give some positive long term solutions to the growing pandemic cases locally and globally. The data on Covid19 cases showed an increasing number of the afflicted as well as the deaths. Due to these findings, it is highly recommended to deepen the devotion and promote the Divine Mercy and Healing of Jesus especially in the homes, hospitals, offices, online classes and social media during challenging times like the pandemic.
Care for the Sick in Early Christianity: Lessons for the Current COVID-19 Stricken Church
Vox Patrum
Debates on whether early Christians relied solely on exorcism and other miraculous healing under the assumption that all diseases are a result of demonic activity, continue. On the one end of this scholarly continuum are those who hold that early Christians only approached disease and healing as purely spiritual phenomena (hence, focusing on exorcism and other kinds of miraculous healing), while, on the other end, others have argued that early Christians accepted a naturalistic view of the causes for diseases and, consequently, sought naturalistic solutions to diseases. However, like in many other areas of life and thought in early Christianity, there is truth in both of these contentions. Rather than choose sides in this debate, this paper will argue that, just like in other areas, early Christians chose and modified existing approaches to sickness and death based on their understanding of the scriptural teachings on these subjects. As such, their approaches provide some key lesson...
“Healing Miracles” is an interdisciplinary MDiv course that seeks to start a conversation across the disciplines of biblical studies and the theology and ethics of pastoral care. The course examines the Healing Miracle stories in the gospels and considers the theological, ethical, and pastoral implications of the exegesis and interpretation of these passages. A primary focus of the course is the distinction between healing and curing and how these concepts both were understood in their biblical context and are used in contemporary culture. Taught by an interdisciplinary team, the course uses HIV/AIDS as an exemplar of a health condition that challenges both the biblical texts and pastoral caregivers today. In this paper, the course instructors reflect on the need for this course for seminary students, the structure and implementation of the course, and its impact on the students who took it. The reflection is offered as a dialogue between the instructors.