Theological and Ethical Problems with Medicalizing Risk

While the COVID-19 pandemic riveted public attention on questions regarding how to respond reasonably to risk of illness, everyday medical care involves more mundane forms of pharmaceutical risk management for conditions like high blood pressure, prediabetes, or high cholesterol. This essay, and the...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Curlin, Farr A. 1971- (Author) ; Scherz, Paul J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Oxford University Press 2023
In: Christian bioethics
Year: 2023, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 105-109
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
NBE Anthropology
NCH Medical ethics
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:While the COVID-19 pandemic riveted public attention on questions regarding how to respond reasonably to risk of illness, everyday medical care involves more mundane forms of pharmaceutical risk management for conditions like high blood pressure, prediabetes, or high cholesterol. This essay, and the collection it introduces, explore medicalization of risk as a theological problem, drawing on resources such as the Sermon on the Mount that caution us about the potential dangers of risk management to Christian discipleship. Medicalization of risk threatens to become an idol that promises immanent security at the cost of one’s relationship with God and others. It misleads contemporary society as to the true human end and medicine’s own capabilities to provide temporal salvation. The essays in this special issue illustrate these problems with respect to pharmaceutical risk management.
ISSN:1744-4195
Contains:Enthalten in: Christian bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/cb/cbad011