Jesus, M.D.
Two authors assail our approach to health care and offer a church-based vision for understanding medicine.
David Fisher reviews Reclaiming the Body | posted 9/12/2006 02:17PM
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Reclaiming the Body is not a quick read, and it shouldn't be. Shuman and Volck spend the necessary time to expand their argument for using medicine "as if God mattered." The authors cite numerous biblical references and other illustrations in support of their vision, from St. Augustine to Karl Barth, Hamlet and Harry Potter. This book will speak to Christians who are looking for a new way to think about their physical health and what role medicine should play in their lives. It will inspire medical professionals and health care workers to find God in their daily experience and to put God back into places where it seemed God had been permanently removed. It has the potential to completely transform a congregation's ministry to the sick and dying.
Reclaiming the Body presents a compelling vision for Christians as they negotiate the world of health care. It is not a condemnation of modern medicine. Nor does it simply describe how to consecrate our trips to the doctor. Rather, it is a call to transformed Christian living, one that emphasizes the importance of viewing medicine through the lens of the larger community of the body of Christ. Christians who adopt this countercultural approach will not only put medicine in the proper place in their own lives, but will display to the world the glory of Christ through the simple, daily acts of caring for the sick and visiting the doctor.
David Fisher is a family physician and geriatrician and member of the Christian Medical and Dental Association.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Reclaiming the Body is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.
More information is available from Brazos Press.
More about Brian Volck is available from his page at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Recent CT articles about health and medicine include:
If Thy Stomach Offends Thee | Weight loss for me isn't about beauty or health. (Dec. 13, 2005)
Evangelicals Applaud Supreme Court Ruling on Medical Marijuana | At least those that paid attention to the decision. (June 14, 2005)
Doctors Under Oath | Modern medicine has misplaced its moral compass. Can Hippocrates help? (Nov. 26, 2001)
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