Medical Theology

"Sanctuary" Quilt. 

by Elizabeth L. Clark, Quilter Charlene Koppenol 

AQS QuiltWeek 2025, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Personal Photo 

Scene from “The Pitt” - HBO/Max

The Shema

(A:vi, S: v) “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad 

[Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]

Deuteronomy 6:4 (CJB)

Looking for the intersection of the sacred and science is a challenge to the silos of our culture.  We may find it when we confront our reality as documented in post pandemic fictional series, “The Pitt”, where we see the struggles of caring and learning effective responses to suffering in our world.  

We also may find it in ancient wisdom of Saint Thomas Aquinas as applied to the practice of mental health care in the recent book, “Wayfaring” by Warren Kinghorn.  In his book we find both a critique of the underlying assumptions of the practice of psychiatry and calls for a wider understanding of mental health care.

For me, obstetric care, “accompaniment” and “standing with” are where this expansion is the path to healing.  This “abiding” is found in the practice of hospice care and midwifery.  It is in this journeying together that we find healing.

Thanks to God, for breaking the silos of our lives as we journey together and find sanctuaries in all sorts of holy spaces.

Marvin

n.b. If you watch “The Pitt” be sure to watch it with someone!  It is intense.

References

Reklis, K. Looking for healing in “the pitt”

https://www.christiancentury.org/screen-time/looking-healing-pitt

Zaltzman, L. This Hebrew Prayer in Max’s ‘The Pitt’ Was One of the Most Moving Jewish TV Moments I’ve Ever Seen

https://www.kveller.com/this-hebrew-prayer-in-maxs-the-pitt-was-one-of-the-most-moving-jewish-tv-moments-ive-ever-seen/

Kinghorn, W. (2024). Wayfaring. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Hage, M. L. (2011). Healing Agent Education.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/11/healing-agent-education.html

Hage, M. (2013). A Theology of Medicine.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-theology-of-medicine.html

Sacred Moments of Healing

“Prayer Beads”  Quilt

Roberta Lagomarsini, Bishop, CA

Personal Photo, AQS QuiltWeek, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2025)

"Singing is praying twice”

St. Augustine & Chance the Rapper

Finding the sacred is a quest that seems universal and central to the lig idea of healing.  I was reminded of this in the recent book, Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times, by Elizabeth Oldfield.  This book and her podcast capture the contemporary search for ”The Sacred” in our lives.  

In any culture, we are looking for a transformative response to our deepest disconnections.  We find these responses in words like, “mitzvah,” “mudita” “”jeong, and “ubuntu”.  In Western culture we see it in the institution of the Christian Church and its responses to suffering that we describe as “healing”.

What is hard to capture in the our meaning of “healing” is how it is understood as a community.  We largely see healing as an individual outcome, but as the quilters remind us this is about our connections with each other and the power of beauty.  

Prayers, like singing, are another place where we can experience those healing and sacred moments.  Here is a portion “A Liturgy for Medical Providers” of recently discovered books, “Every Moment Holy Series:”:

“There is no end to malady, sickness,

injury, and disease in this broken world,

so there is no end to the line of hurting

people who daily need my(our) tending.  

Therefore give me(us) grace, O God,

that I(we) might be generous with my(our) kindness,

and that in this healing and care-taking vocation

my(our) hands might become an extension of your

hands, and my(our) service a conduit for your mercy.”

        *Italic bold my change to original

These shared sacred moments of healing are present in our communities of healing found in the beauty of words and quilts.  Thanks be to God!

Marvin

References

AQS QuiltWeek, 2025

https://www.americanquilter.com/grand-rapids-2025

“Singing is Praying Twice” and More from Late Night with Chance the Rapper

https://thebothandblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/singing-is-praying-twice-and-more-from-late-night-with-chance-the-rapper/

Oldfield, E. (2024). Fully Alive. Baker Books.

This liturgy is from Every Moment Holy. Volume !,  by Doug McKelvey.  

https://www.everymomentholy.com/liturgies

Hage, M. L. (2020). Healing Disconnections.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/09/healing-disconnections.html

Hage, M. L. (2020). Finding Joy.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/01/finding-joy.html

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing Peace Revisited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/12/healing-peace-revisited.html

A Healing Vocation

“The Cunning Man” by Robertson Davies

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, 

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18 (NIV)

It’s not easy to describe the characteristics of a “healing vocation” in general or with specific events in your own life.  A stimulus for this recent effort began with our trip to Canada.  While in Toronto, I was reminded of a book by the Canadian author,  Robertson Davies, “The Cunning Man”.  This well known Canadian author wrote his last book describing the life of an atypical fictional physician, Jonathan Hullah, M.D., F.R.C.P.  I had first read it while practicing and teaching at Duke University.  I reread it now with a new appreciation and perspective.

A theme of this novel is the intersections of religion, science and the arts of a “healing vocation”.  The  protagonist, Dr. Hullah, embodies the influences of these powerful cultural forces to bring healing to those around him.  He describes a “high touch”, narrative medical care founded in both ancient and contemporary practice.  He sees the importance of ritual in its various forms.

The future of the “healing vocations” is being challenged in multiple ways that can be addressed by some ancient ideas and disciplines.  The good news is that these powerful cultural forces are still being explored today by authors like Imber, Sacks, Nussbaum and Verghese.

Marvin

References

Davies, R. (1995). The Cunning Man. New York : Viking.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Can AI be a Healing Agent?

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/08/can-ai-be-healing-agent.html

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’  

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/bill-gates-on-ai-humans-wont-be-needed-for-most-things.html

Imber, J. B. (2008). Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine 

(1 ed.). Princeton University Press.

Sacks, J. (2014). The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning (Reprint ed.). Schocken.

Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). The Finest Traditions of My Calling: One Physician’s Search for the Renewal of Medicine (1 ed.). Yale University Press.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Healiing Visions.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/06/healing-visions.html

Then & Now

“Three Augustinian Nuns called from Dieppe”

to establish the L’Hotel-Dieu de Quebec -1639

Basilque Notre-Dame De Montreal

Matthew 25:40

Sainte-Anne-de-Beauprie Shrine, Quebec

It was a return summer trip Canada where we again were welcomed and learned more about our own healing history.   What we saw told a story of the beginnings of healing care in North America.  It is not a story I knew in any detail except the nominal connection of healthcare to religious organizations.  The missing information was the centrality of nursing in the story!

Near the end of the trip, an article from the University of Michigan was published that emphasized the continued relevance of the story we just learned in Canada.  According to the authors, the “sacred moment experiences” are still common in the care of others.  What was surprising is the reluctance in sharing these sacred moments.  

The recent experiences in Canada reinforced that “Bienvenue”/“Welcome” is the path to where we experience these shared and sacred moments.   Our shared professional history is deeply connected with our northern neighbors.  

Thanks to all the “Sisters", past and present, that have and continue to treat body and soul.

Marvin

References

L’Hotel-Dieu de Quebec

https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=683

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal

https://www.basiliquenotredame.ca/en

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Shrine

https://www.quebec-cite.com/en/businesses/sainte-anne-de-beaupre-shrine

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing the Spaces between Us.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/07/healing-spaces-between-us.html

Ties that bind: the evolution of education for professional nursing in Canada from the 17th to the 21st Century

https://www.casn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Ties-That-Bind-The-evolution-of-nursing-education-in-Canada.pdf

Sacred Moment Experiences Among Internal Medicine Physicians

Jessica Ameling, MPH¹; Nathan Houchens, MD^1,2; M. Todd Greene, PhD, MPH^1,3; et al

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2834653?utm_campaign=articlePDF&utm_medium=articlePDFlink&utm_source=articlePDF&utm_content=jamanetworkopen.2025.13159#google_vignette

Hage, M. L. (2016). Invited.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2016/01/invited.html