The Body of Compassion - Paperback

by Joel Shuman (Author)

In 'The Body of Compassion', Joel Shuman presents an important new theological treatment of contemporary bioethics, weaving together personal experience, a critical treatise on bioethics, and an exploration of a Christian theological alternative. The author first draws the reader toward a consideration of the current state of his grandfather, a hardworking man with deep attachments to family and land who died a solitary death, unaccompanied by loved ones, in the unfamiliar and sterile world of a hospital. Troubled by the way his grandfather died, Shuman takes the reader along as he explores how modern medicine has distanced itself from dealing with people as living beings beyond their immediate physicality. He examines how various approaches to bioethics over the past twenty years have tried to remedy this problem by prescribing certain standards for treatment and how each of these ultimately has fallen short due to the lack of a ""teleological concern for the body"" - i.e., a concern for what the body is actually for in a larger context. From this point, Shuman deftly moves to a discussion of the centrality of the body to Christianity, focusing on how baptism, participation in the liturgy, and the partaking of the Eucharist all serve to unite Christians as one in the body of Christ. For Christians, the author argues, the body does not just belong to the individual but rather is one with the community of the Church. With this in mind, Shuman proposes a new kind of bioethics for Christians, where care for the body of Christ becomes the model of how we should care for and receive care from each other. This fresh and thought-provoking book is sure to be of interest to ethicists, medical professionals, and everyone who is troubled by the conflicts between science and religion.

Author Biography

Joel James Shuman is a native West Virginian who is Professor of Theology at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The eldest of six children of the late Ronald K. Tony Shuman and Shirley James Shuman, he was raised on his mother's family farm in Braxton County, WV. He attended Bethany College, where he received a degree in physical therapy from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. After practicing physical therapy for several years in Wisconsin, West Virginia and Virginia, he returned to school to develop his interests in Christian theology and moral and political philosophy. He earned the Master of Theological Studies from Duke University Divinity School, and a PhD in Religion, specializing in Theological Ethics, from the Graduate School of Duke University. Dr. Shuman works primarily at the intersection of theology--especially moral theology--with medicine and other applied biological sciences. An occasional public speaker and the author of numerous popular and scholarly articles, he has written four books: The Body of Compassion: Ethics, Medicine and the Church (1999), Heal Thyself: Spirituality, Medicine and the Distortion of Christianity (2003), Reclaiming the Body: Christians and the Faithful Use of Modern Medicine with Dr. Brian Volck (2006), and To Live is to Worship: Bioethics and the Body of Christ (2007). He co-edited (with L. Roger Owens) and contributed to the volume of essays, Wendell Berry and Religion: Heaven's Earthly Home (2009). A United Methodist, Joel has been married since 1981 to Christine Faber Shuman. They are the parents of three adult children. Joel enjoys carpentry, fly-fishing, gardening, and listening to good music in his spare time. He and Chris live in Kingston, PA.