Suffering and the Nature of Healing

With increased secularization, the unique perspective of traditional Christianity is largely being lost from health care. This work explores the central relationship between the Incarnation of the Word of God as Jesus Christ and the nature of healing within the understanding of traditional Christianity. This understanding and teaching regarding sin, suffering, and death can have tremendous impact on the care of the sick. This book reviews the relationship of modern health care practice to traditional Christianity and the Church’s understanding of health, disease, and healing, in order to give a better sense of how traditional Christianity can more effectively interface with secular health care.

The first part of the book explores the human dilemma posed by suffering. The second part examines the nature of the encounter between the suffering person seeking help and the persons offering help. The third and final part addresses the possibility of healing independent of cure, even in the context of death.

About the Author: Daniel Hinshaw is an Orthodox Christian layman and physician. He teaches Palliative Care as a Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at Transilvania University in Brasov, Romania, and as Visiting Professor of Palliative Care at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York.