Reclaiming the Body

Starred review from October 10, 2005
Shuman, an ethicist, and Volck, a pediatrician, are on a mission to persuade Christians to stop worshiping the medical establishment and to start "using medicine as if God mattered." It is easy to put medicine in the place that only God should occupy: "The medical project of controlling life and defeating death is attractive... because a denial of our own mortalities and a desire to be in control is very near the center of our own disordered desires." Christian theology, however, teaches that "because we come from God, belong to God, and are destined finally to return to God, we need not fight without restraint to control all the circumstances of our existence, or to preserve our lives as they near their end." As they develop this theme through literature, contemporary stories and theological reflection, the authors affirm the goodness of the human body, the importance of the church as the gathered body of Christ and the necessity of hospitality toward the world's helpless and suffering. Brilliantly reasoned and artfully written, this quotable book should reach well beyond its obvious market of medical and spiritual caregivers to engage anyone concerned about human values in a technological age.