M.D. / M.Div

October 13, 2009

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

The idea that John Wesley, ordained Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement, would pen a volume on medicine and personal health might seem a little odd to our contemporary hearing. After all, our culture has a fairly defined separation between faith and reason, between religion and science. We would no more ask a doctor to conduct a baptism than we would ask a pastor to perform surgery. So the fact that Wesley dispensed medical advice in a widely distributed book would seem like an anachronistic anomaly (which itself sounds like a medical condition!)

But in digging around for choice nuggets for this Sunday, I came across a wonderful article from last December’s Yale Journal of Biological Medicine, written by Daniel E. Hall, a surgeon and ordained minister.[1] While his essay mainly explored the intrinsic connections between the altar table and the surgical table, he did a wonderful job tracking the joined history of medicine and religion throughout human civilization.

I did not know, for example, that while the practice of medicine has been around for millennia, the institution of hospitals did not exist until the monastic era, when monks were trained in the healing arts and even grew medicinal plants on monastery grounds. A notable physician-priest named Niels Stensen (1638-1686) is best known for discovering the parotid gland duct which now bears his name (ductus stenonianus). Later, he would convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism, become Bishop of Titiopolis, and write more than a dozen theological volumes.

In 17th century England, it was quite common to see clergy with both theological and medical training. So when young Puritan clergy found it difficult to find appointments within the Church of England, they fell back on their medical expertise for alternate sources of income. In fact, many English universities included medical courses among the curriculum for divinity students. In 18th century America, Methodist circuit riders often practiced medicine out on the frontier along with their pastoral duties, following the example of Wesley, whose medical guide Primitive Physick became a bestseller throughout England.

Dr. Hall concludes this fascinating survey with this surprising statistic. By his count, there are 230 individuals in the United States who today serve as “physician clergy,” ordained ministers who serve as psychiatrists, surgeons, and other medical specialties. And a good friend of mine in Tampa, having worked decades as a cardiologist, is now exploring hospital chaplaincy during his retirement years. He says his new mission statement is “I will seek more to comfort than cure, treat the soul more than the heart, and foster the healing of reconciliation for all.” His is a wonderful example of the holistic healing which Christians have understood throughout history.

I find all of this fascinating, not only because of my own background (a Bachelor’s degree in Biology/Pre-Med and a Master’s of Divinity degree.) I also think there is great congruity between the healing that takes place in one’s body and that which takes place in one’s spirit. Throughout the gospels, Jesus’ ministry is portrayed as healing and teaching, tending to people’s physical and spiritual needs.

It is that conviction that lies at the heart of our current sermon series on personal health, and draws us to this Sunday, when we’ll take a closer look at the medical advice dispensed in Wesley’s little volume. We’ll also hear the story of Naaman, the foreign general who came to the prophet Elisha for healing. We’ll discover how he received more than healing for his leprosy, but a cure for his prideful spirit as well.

See you this Sunday!

Magrey


2 Kings 5:1-5
1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.
2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’
4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5 And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’


[1] http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2605310