The mystery of embodiment is ubiquitous in medical settings. Even so, health care professionals may find themselves driven by daily clinical tasks that prevent this mystery from coming to focal awareness. The author explores embodiment from five approaches, (1) offering a simple account of developing a skill that proceeds in several stages from novice to expert, (2) examining critically the “capabilities approach” of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and what it says and does not say about embodiment, (3) developing a (...) brief description of the human body as vulnerable, (4) exploring the long-term trend in clinical contexts sometimes described as the “commodification of the body,” and (5) highlighting connections between Christian faith and embodiment. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 239–248. (shrink)

What do we mean when we utter the word ‘solidarity’? How do we apprehend its meaning when we hear it spoken of by others? The ancient Greeks - Homer, Thucydides, and Aristotle - offer a vantage point from which this inquiry may begin. The Book of Genesis sets before us a cycle of stories about brothers, along with questions about the bonds that keep them together. The sagas of Iceland explore the nature of conflicts between one family and another. Thomas (...) Aquinas gives a distinctive account of solidarity between Christians. Emile Durkheim, too, provides an influential analysis of solidarity. Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Scheler, and Richard Rorty make significant contributions to the discussion. John Paul II elaborated an impressive vision of solidarity. This essay undertakes a form of reconnaissance, then, by exploring the border region between these rival versions of solidarity. (shrink)

What is the status of human dignity in bioethics today? Ruth Macklin, Steven Pinker, and Peter Singer are among those who argue that “human dignity” is incoherent rhetoric, improperly smuggled into public discourse by religious people who are opposed to moral autonomy and want to block progress in cutting-edge medical research. In the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, however, dignity is broader and deeper than its critics claim. It cannot simply be replaced by the concept of “autonomy.” Dignity plays a (...) crucial role in building respect for human life. We first discover the dignity of “the other” in the context of family life, and discussion of the common good would be impoverished if we were somehow to eliminate it from our moral vocabulary. The respect we owe to human life in its embryonic stages serves as a paradigmatic case that shows the crucial importance of dignity. (shrink)

In this essay I explore three firsthand accounts of religious faith from The First World War: Forsaken by Private Orr, The Letters of John Ayscough to His Mother, and The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier Priest 1914-1919, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. These three priests provide us with a glimpse of how faithful people responded to very challenging situations. Private Orr came into the war as an ordained priest, but lost his faith after two years of fighting. (...) Monsignor Ayscough worked mainly with wounded soldiers, offering them pastoral care in many different settings. Teilhard de Chardin served as a stretcher-bearer on the frontlines of many fierce battles, earning the respect he would need to talk to soldiers about their faith in the moments just before they went ‘over the top.’ In a concluding section, I try to draw out some implications of their stories for pastoral care today. (shrink)

In this essay I explore three firsthand accounts of religious faith from The First World War: Forsaken by Private Orr, The Letters of John Ayscough to His Mother, and The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier Priest 1914-1919, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. These three priests provide us with a glimpse of how faithful people responded to very challenging situations. Private Orr came into the war as an ordained priest, but lost his faith after two years of fighting. (...) Monsignor Ayscough worked mainly with wounded soldiers, offering them pastoral care in many different settings. Teilhard de Chardin served as a stretcher-bearer on the frontlines of many fierce battles, earning the respect he would need to talk to soldiers about their faith in the moments just before they went ‘over the top.’ In a concluding section, I try to draw out some implications of their stories for pastoral care today. (shrink)

In this essay I explore three firsthand accounts of religious faith from The First World War: Forsaken by Private Orr, The Letters of John Ayscough to His Mother, and The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier Priest 1914-1919, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. These three priests provide us with a glimpse of how faithful people responded to very challenging situations. Private Orr came into the war as an ordained priest, but lost his faith after two years of fighting. (...) Monsignor Ayscough worked mainly with wounded soldiers, offering them pastoral care in many different settings. Teilhard de Chardin served as a stretcher-bearer on the frontlines of many fierce battles, earning the respect he would need to talk to soldiers about their faith in the moments just before they went ‘over the top.’ In a concluding section, I try to draw out some implications of their stories for pastoral care today. (shrink)