Healthcare and the Christian Life

Course Description

What features define human life? How do individuals and communities understand and withstand suffering and pain? What is good dying? In our time, these essential human questions are often viewed primarily as bioethics issues. In reality, these are not exclusively medical or bioethical enquiries. Rather, they are questions that all human individuals and societies ultimately wrestle with. 

This course seeks to address these issues, bringing theological and medical ethics, as well as different views on what it means to be human, into conversation with each other. Using an approach that will both enrich the practice of medical practitioners and empower the engagement of lay Christians, we will consider the relationship between healthcare professions and Christian communities. We will also consider some specific issues – notably the death-and-dying debates of our own time – to highlight the valuable contributions of theological anthropology to present-day ethics conversations that are ongoing in both professional and lay settings. Learners will come away with tools to think about and engage with critical health issues that are confronting those who work in and those who access the medical system.

January Term 2024
This course is available onsite and online. Students must register for the online section to gain Zoom access to the course.

Course lectures will be recorded, and students may be captured in course recordings. Access to lecture recordings is normally only given to online students who cannot reasonably be expected to attend the course live due to time zone differences. These students should contact the course instructor for permission to access recordings.