Title
Friendship with God: Anointing the Sick as a Theological Hermeneutic
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
1-2008
Source Publication
Society of Christian Ethics
Abstract
A theological bioethic needs, first, a theological politics. This paper rests on the claim that the contours of a theological politics are found in the nature of sacramental practices. More specifically, a theological politics of medicine is found in the sacramental practice of anointing of the sick. Anointing provides a radically theological hermeneutic – a theologically robust vision for interpreting medicine that, if enacted, can powerfully make real God’s work in the world. Such a vision is embodied in one particular twentieth-century exemplar – the organization called Partners In Health and its co-founder Paul Farmer. Farmer and PIH, I argue, live the theo-logic and theological politics of medicine embodied in the practice of anointing. What is more, they show – against those who would accuse such an approach of being naively idealistic – that such a theological politics is possible, powerful, and can even change the world.
Comments
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, January 4, 2008, Atlanta, Georgia