Heal Thyself: Spirituality, Medicine, and the Distortion of Christianity
"I commend this book as a key marking point in the current  debate regarding the relation of faith and health."  --Journal of Pastoral History"The authors have sounded a clear call for the church to reform its speech and action that should be read by clergy and laity alike."--Religious Studies Review"That many North American Christians uncritically welcome claims that 'faith' or 'spirituality' might serve as an efficient cause of wellness is hardly surprising, given the current cultural soup of theological semiliteracy, individualist utilitarianism and anxiety over the fetish called health. What is surprising is that until now, no serious book-length theological critique of this phenomenon existed. That is why the contribution by Joel Shuman, a former physical therapist with a Ph.D. in theology, and Keith Meador, a psychiatrist with postgraduate theological training, is so welcome."--America"We have long needed a book likeHeal Thyself,and it is interesting to ask why it has not been written.  At least one of the reasons is that to write a book like this is such a daunting task. Theologians seldom know enough about medicine to write a book like this and physicians, even if they are Christians, seldom know enough about theology. That is why it is so important that this book is jointly authored by a doctor with theological training and a theologian with training in the care of the body (physical therapy). Keith Meador and Joel Shuman have joined forces not only to write a book that helps us understand the power medicine exercises in modern society and the effect that power has on our lives as Christians, but also to make an argument in this book with implications that reach far beyond medical care." --From the Foreword by Stanley Hauerwas"Medicine has discovered 'religion,' yet doesn't quite know what to do with it. Everyone's chattering about 'spirituality' these days, though nobody seems to know what it means. Shuman and Meador know very well.Heal Thyselfis incisive, prophetic, and constructive--a delightful theological critique, theoretical genealogy, and cultural analysis rolled into one truly important argument. Deserves a very wide reading in medicine, in the church, and among scholars of 'religion.'"--Christian Smith, Department of Sociology,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"Heal Thyselfis a wise, often deeply moving book, a work of extraordinary craft and conviction. Shuman and Meador teach us the subtle ways in which the therapeutic sensibility transforms religion into an instrument for medicine, or even worse, just another shop in the mall." --Carl Elliot, MD, PhD, Center for Bioethics,University of Minnesota