In the “Surgeon as Priest,” Richard Selzer dives into the religious and scientific aspects of being a surgeon. He explores and divides the certain aspects of “healing” into five parts, each section demonstrating the different perspectives on healing (spiritually & scientifically) that eventually builds the metaphorical bridge between surgeon and priest. With the use of figurative language and other rhetorical devises, he connects each section of his essay to show his transformation from a scientific healer to a spiritual healer.
Care of Souls provides an account of Christianity's historical practices of soul care through a culmination of his many years of scholarship, teaching and clinical work.
2. What is the Doctor referring to when he says, “Therein the patient Must minister to himself?”
Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” delivers a philosophy of private dialogue as it describes how personal dialogue can outline the character of reality. The book’s main theme is that life could also be outlined by the manner in which people tend to interact in dialogue with one another, with nature, and with God. According to Buber, a person might have two attitudes: I-Thou or I-It. I-Thou is a subject-to-subject relationship, whereas I-It is a subject-to-object relationship.
Every single person in the world, regardless of their race, religion or gender, is different. Therefore, there is more than one way to reach God, enlightenment, or whatever each respected person chooses to believe in. In Christianity, there are two main paths taken to reach the divine; the communal path embracing obedience and the individual route which focuses on asceticism. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and The Rule of St. Benedict in English reveal what each road to the divine entails while explaining how the ascetic hermits and monks live for the mutual goal of reaching unity with God.
In (Matthew 6:6 NIV), Jesus explains the merits of praying to the lord God and the reward of inner peace, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret: and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” It is through this conversation with God that Christians pursue peace in their lives. Prayer can either be private or communal, spontaneous prayer is one way that charismatic communities can come closer to God. The act of prayer allows believers to have a personal conversation with God; it alleviates stress attributed to the monotony of everyday life. Besides prayer, meditation is another way of attaining inner peace, it is an ancient practice within the Christian tradition, which has undertaken a recent revival, a global group that reaffirms the concept of praying and meditating for inner peace is Taizé. Not as popular as prayer and meditation, Lectio Divina, generally known as bible studies is a way for Christians to feel connected to God and to finally attain inner peace. The studying of the sacred scriptures on a day to day basis and reflecting on prayers also maintain a continual connection with God. It is vital to maintain equilibrium between prayer and service, whereby an individual fathoms the notion ‘ora et labora’, in order to equally partake in both prayer, and the concept of action whereby ora develops inner peace, which is mirrored through the
J.P Moreland’s second step to renovating the soul and returning to authentic spiritual renovation is fostering spiritual discipline. When you present your body to God as a living sacrifice it involves not only a one-time act of dedication, but a habitual,
From being a healer of bodily ailments, Saint Blaise became a physician of souls, then retired for a time, by divine inspiration, to a cavern where he remained in prayer. As bishop of Sebastea, Blaise instructed his people as much by his example as by his words, and the great virtues of the servant of God were attested by many miracles. From all parts, the people came to him for the cure of bodily ills.
Bain’s (2012) novel highlights the Jesuit value of well-rounded growth as a large contributor to success. Bain begins with an anecdote of a professor named Paul Baker who teaching a bizarre class focusing on finding oneself through a variety of activities. Baker asserts to the class those who aren’t constantly evolving by creating new ideas, concepts, and perspectives are “dead”. By “dead”, Baker means stagnant in growth of personality and intelligence. This evolution and growth Baker is referring to leads to a better understanding of oneself. This in turn allows one to know the best way for that individual to study, learn, and improve after failure which are all keys to success. It’s also important to have a wide encompassing education to live a balanced life.
Brian Taylor’s attraction to the Benedictine way is that it is a counterculture of wisdom. He states that this pathway has five different qualities—ordinariness, commitment, self-denial, simplicity, and silence—that make its followers challenge the normalcies of our world. One of the qualities of the Benedictine pathway that stood out to me was commitment. This section of his article stood out to me the most because I am a huge commitment phobe; This has always affected my relationship with others as well as other aspects of my life. Taylor discusses how commitment in the Benedictine language is synonymous to “stability” and “devotion to a community for the rest of one’s life” (Taylor, 132). Today, we live in an environment where it is okay
The purpose of this paper is to compare philosophies between Christianity and Buddhism. Working in the world of healthcare, we are exposed to different beliefs and faith philosophies that require us to be knowledgeable regarding other’s religion and faith. This is important because it gives us a better understanding and accept why people act or feel a certain way. Different perspectives brings different act and ways to care for others, and by being knowledgeable in this field, we promote better care for patients.
‘Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when a man comes into your room and says he is Christ… …and has a message… …and threatens… …to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in solitude; silence and rest; rest without friends, without books; without messages; six months’ rest…’ (Page 110).
The spiritual significance of illness and suffering is a topic Christians continue to grapple with, as Larchet points out in The Theology of Illness. Scripture offers a wealth of wisdom and cues for understanding illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. Larchet analyzes the various and often contradictory Christian positions on health and illness, revealing how attitudes have shifted over time and with changes in medical technology, practice, and ethics. For example, St. Barsanuphius presents a comprehensive analysis of the spiritual significance of illness and suffering. One view holds that illness signifies a lack of faith; another presents illness in terms of a person who is offered the opportunity to develop a stronger faith, or whose faith is being put to a test like the story of Job. Ultimately, the latter remains the most helpful way to approach illness and healing from a Christian perspective. The essence of Christian health care is that, "Healing itself, while resulting from natural processes, actually comes from God," (Larchet 116).
Christensen, K. (2011, Spring). Difficult conversations: How to address what matters most. Rotman Magazine, 22–27.
The five Benedictine Values are incorporated into every class as a way to better ourselves. Each is defined from the college website and includes topics that are important for continuing my education based upon what I have learned in class. The first one is community, which is creating an environment that promotes a sense of community by being responsible and supporting each other. To be a community we need to treat each other with love. Life chances is a part of being a community. Life Chances is where a person born into poverty stays in poverty. This is a phenomenon that refers to how families can never get out of poverty because it passes on to the next generation. Life chances are what each person is given to become something in life. Someone that has a lot of money has much better life chances than does someone born into poverty. A person born into poverty is more likely to remain in poverty. We can become a community by eliminating the lower, middle, and upper class in the United States. When we eliminate this monetary value we are just one big community that we are all open arms and willing to help anyone.