Faith in Drugs: The Material and Immaterial Effects of Medication in the Early Modern French Catholic World

This article explores a set of medications, called les remèdes des pauvres, that were distributed from the late seventeenth century onward to the sick poor of rural France and to French missions abroad. Although it was eventually absorbed into the French state as a form of royally sponsored poor relief, this drug distribution network began in 1670 as a distinctly ecclesiastical endeavour, aimed at allowing parish priests, missionaries, and charitable laywomen to imitate the healing ministry of Christ and his apostles. While critics saw them as peddling a dangerous chemical drug in poor villages, their promoters argued that the active charity involved in distributing the remedies, and even the faith placed in their effectiveness by the sick, played an important role in effecting their cures. As such they offer a useful perspective on the shifting boundaries between medical charity and medical commerce, as well as between natural and supernatural healing.

From the Heart of the Father to the Ends of the Earth: The Participation of the Church and the Baptized in the Mission of Jesus

Mission has its origin in the inner life of God; their relationships with one another define the Persons of the Trinity. The Son is eternally generated by the Father, eternally proceeding from Him. When he becomes human, this identity becomes mission. Those united to Jesus through Baptism share in his missionary personality, not only corporately as the whole Church but individually as well. Beginning with the Second Vatican Council, and developed by subsequent papal teaching, the Church has rediscovered her missionary nature with clearer reference to Christ and the Gospel, and in more direct relation to the world and its needs. The Church’s proclamation is most compelling when it is embodied by witnesses who have verified by experience the fulfillment of their humanity in a lived Christianity. This proposal is never a one-sided matter, but always involves an awareness of solidarity and reciprocity, an experience of encounter and discovery, and so becomes a journey of accompaniment and conversion for the bearer of the message. This is the rationale for widespread participation in missionary activities in the Church. Because of its affinity with the healing ministry of Jesus, medicine offers a unique possibility in this regard. Precisely because of the good they can accomplish and the challenges they can provoke, medical missions present a privileged opportunity for witness and generosity, but also for a new perspective and a changed heart for the participants. Together with those whom they serve, missionary disciples have the joy of joining the triumphal procession of Christ back into the heart of the Father.

Healing Ministry Pada Masa Pandemi Covid 19 Sebagai Salah Satu Bentuk Pelayanan Pastoral Gereja Yang Mendesak di Indonesia Pada Masa Kini

This article aims to describe the healing ministry as a form of urgent pastoral care during the Covid 19 pandemic. This search aims to find concepts or forms of healing ministry in the Bible and the thoughts of the scholars about church healing services. That since the beginning of 2020 until now, many people have been exposed to the covid 19 virus, making them sick, difficult and suffering. This situation calls the church to perform healing ministries. Abstrak: Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan tentang healing ministry atau pelayanan kesembuhan sebagai salah satu bentuk pelayanan pastoral yang mendesak pada masa pandemi Covid 19. Penelusuran ini bertujuan untuk menemukan konsep atau bentuk-bentuk pelayanan kesembuhan dalam Alkitab dan pemikiran-pemikiran para ahli tentang pelayanan kesembuhan gereja. Bahwa sejak awal tahun 2020 hingga kini, banyak masyarat yang telah terpapar viruis covid 19, sehingga sakit, susah dan menderita. Keadaan yang demikian ini memanggil gereja untuk melakukan pelayanan kesembuhan.

The impact of mediatization in the healing ministry of African preachers

Healing service happens everywhere. However, the healing service practice in Africa, as practised by several preachers from South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi and Zimbabwe, is more phenomenal and has a significant impact towards the Christianity in the world. One of the impacts is the emergence of religious tourism. This study observes that the service success is supported by two things, namely a deep understanding and the strong foundation on the theology of biblical healing, which trigger the presence of faith, on the one hand, and on the other hand the presence of invisible but very real support from the power of media popularising this practice to all over the world. It is concluded that even though it must be tightly controlled, mediatisation is an adaptive step to introduce the mission of the church and news related to the Bible to the modern society. Christianity has to accept this step as the updated step.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article takes an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to media’s role and uses in today’s Christian ministry. The presence of the media and its optimisation for evangelism are supported by global theology.

A Catholic Perspective: Triage Principles and Moral Distress in Pandemic Scarcity

Striving to be faithful to the moral core of medicine and to spiritual, moral, and social teaching of the church, Catholic physicians see their role as an extension of the healing ministry of Jesus. When faced with a situation in which a large number of gravely ill people are seeking care, but optimal treatment such as ventilation in intensive care unit cannot be offered to all because of scarcity of resources, Catholic physicians recognize the need to consider the common good and to assign a priority to patients for whom such treatments would be most probably lifesaving. Making these evaluations, physicians will use only objective medical criteria regarding the benefits and risks to patients and will be mindful that all persons deserve equal respect for their dignity. Discrimination or prejudicial treatment against patients based on factors such as age, disability, race, gender, quality of life, and possible long-term survival cannot be morally justified. Triage process should incorporate respect for autonomy of both the patient and the professional and opportunity for an appeal of a triage decision. Other principles and values that will affect how a triage protocol is developed and applied are proportionality, equity, reciprocity, solidarity, subsidiarity, and transparency. The current coronavirus pandemic can provide valuable lessons and stimulus for reforms and renewal. Summary: Catholic physicians strive to continue the healing ministry of Jesus Christ and be faithful to the moral core of medicine. In situations such as pandemic, the scarcity of personnel and technological resources create serious challenges and even moral distress. Church teachings on dignity, the common good and protection of the vulnerable help guide decisions based on public medical criteria and shared decision-making.

Conflict and Cooperation

Chapter 1 traces the history of the encounter between religion and medicine from the therapeutic cults of the ancients, East and West, to the healing ministry of Christ and to the work and writings of myriad later figures. These include medieval physician-philosophers such as Moses Maimonides, John Wesley and the fathers of the natural hygiene movement, and pioneers of contemporary discourse on religion’s influences on health and healing. This history also involves important figures from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and from Asian religions and new religious movements. Unpacking this history entails weighing competing narratives about the relations between the institutions of religion and medicine, which at times have been characterized by conflict and at other times by cooperation.