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Baylor University
Institute for Faith and Learning
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      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
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    • The Christian Reflection Project
      • Acedia
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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Health
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
    • Sports
    • Suffering
    • Traveling Well
    • Virtual Lives
    • Vocation
    • Where Wisdom Is Found
    • Women and the Church
    • Women in the Bible
    • Work

Health

Health, in the full-orbed biblical perspective, is wholeness within oneself and in community with humankind, God, and all of creation. Our contributors explore how this perspective yields a radically different understanding of healthcare—as oriented toward health instead of sickness, inclusive of others' welfare as well as our own, and within the context of our life before God.

Jim Marcum and Bob Kruschwitz critique the biomedical model of healthcare that focuses on treating diseases and fixing malfunctioning bodies. The food disorders that plague us reveal a need for a more holistic, community-oriented view of health. Drawing on Scripture and the counsel of early Christians, Mary Louise Bringle describes a multifaceted approach to eating well.

John Pilch distinguishes healing—the restoration of meaning to life—from curing disease and echoes Jesus' call for disciples to do healing works. Ann Neale and Jeff Tieman address the glaring disparities in the U.S. healthcare system. They urge us to recognize the stranger as our neighbor—"a much needed antidote to modern medicine's individualism and market orientation."

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to help us explore contemporary healthcare from within a full-orbed biblical perspective on health. The guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Health issue and the set of six Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "Revisioning Health," by James A. Marcum and Robert B. Kruschwitz
  • "Jesus as Healer," by John J. Pilch
  • "Eating Well: Seven Paradoxes of Plenty," by Mary Louise Bringle
  • "Dying Well," by Abigail Rian Evans
  • "What Would the Good Samaritan Do?" by Ann Neale and Jeff Tieman

Art

  • "Peter's Shadow," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Masaccio's Peter Healing with His Shadow
  • "Interrupted," by Heidi J. Hornik, on the early Christian mosaic Jesus Healing the Woman with an Issue of Blood

Hymn and Worship Service

  • "Silent Faces," by Terry W. York and C. David Bolin
  • Worship Service, by David G. Miller

Inspirational Pieces

  • "There Is No Health in Us," by Dennis L. Sansom
  • "Austin Heights and AIDS," by Kyle Childress
  • Other Voices, Quotations on Health

Book Reviews

  • "Redeeming Medicine," by Keith G. Meador
    • Joel James Shuman and Brian Volck, Reclaiming the Body: Christians and the Faithful Use of Modern Medicine
    • Jean Denton, Good is the Flesh: Body, Soul, and Christian Faith
  • "The Healing Congregation," by Brian Volck
    • Mary Chase-Ziolek, Health, Healing and Wholeness: Engaging Congregations in Ministries of Health
    • W. Daniel Hale and Harold G. Koenig, Healing Bodies and Souls: A Practical Guide for Congregations
    • Margaret Kim Peterson, Sing Me to Heaven: The Story of a Marriage

Study Guides and Lesson Plans (Download the set of six Study Guides)

  • "Revisioning Health"
  • "Jesus as Healer"
  • "Eating Well"
  • "Dying Well"
  • "There Is No Health in Us"
  • "What Would the Good Samaritan Do?"

Further Reading

  • "Hungry Souls," by Thomas Hibbs (Food and Hunger)
  • "Who's Hungry? Who Cares?" by Jack Marcum (Food and Hunger)
  • "Heavenly Hunger," by R. Marie Griffith (Food and Hunger)
  • "Power Made Perfect in Weakness," by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung (Suffering)
  • "Suffering Servants," by Waldemar Janzen (Suffering)
Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Health
  • About
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  • Conferences and Symposiums
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    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
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      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
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        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
      • 2021 Living Accountably
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        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
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      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
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        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
        Back
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        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2016 Higher Learning
        Back
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
        • Presenters
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
        • 2002 Christianity and Economics
        • 2003 The Schooled Heart
        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
      Back
      • Additional Information
    • Missio
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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