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Aesthetic christology and medical ethics: the status of Christ's gaze in care for the suffering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

David C. Tolley
David C. Tolley*
Affiliation:
University of California at Berkeley, School of Law, Berkeley, CA 94709dtolley@berkeley.edu
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Abstract

This article seeks to offer an alternative to traditional understandings of how doctrine can inform the ways that medical professionals and others care for people who suffer. Placing traditional christological reflections in conversation with an aesthetically generated christology, I consider how the beauty of encounter can shape us. First, I consider how encounters in general can shape us, and then I reflect in particular upon how encounters with Christ, as construed by Hans Urs Von Balthasar, can shape us. I suggest that personal encounters shape us by forcing us to cross stories with others and by affecting us at the level of personal desire. Then, I articulate how an encounter with Christ – especially with Christ's questioning, liberating gaze as described by Von Balthasar – can motivate people to approach others with this same gaze. Lastly, I focus upon how caregivers can embody Christ's gaze at the bedside in acknowledgement, intimacy, communion and respectful silence with those who suffer.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 158 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2008

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References

1 Gene, Outka, ‘Agapeistic Ethics’, in Quinn, Philip L. and Charles, Taliaferro (eds) A Companion to the Philosophy of Religion (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997)Google Scholar.

2 Ibid.

3 Karl, Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV/I (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957), p. 9Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., p. 3.

5 The phrase ‘suffer with’ is taken from Margaret, Farley'sCompassionate Respect: A Feminist Approach to Medical Ethics and Other Questions (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2002)Google Scholar, which will be considered below.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid., p. 50.

8 Serene, Jones, ‘Graced Practices: Excellence and Freedom in the Christian Life’, in Dorothy, Bass and Miroslav, Volf (eds), Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in the Christian Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), p. 74Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., p. 74.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., p. 75.

13 Hans, Urs Von Balthasar, Heart of the World (Ft Collins, CO: Ignatius Press, 1980), p. 8Google Scholar.

14 Richard, Viladesau, Theological Aesthetics: God in Imagination, Beauty, and Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 31Google Scholar.

15 Von Balthasar, Heart of the World, pp. 14–15.

16 Ibid., p. 16.

17 Ibid., pp. 59–60.

18 Ibid., p. 91.

19 Ibid., p. 92.

20 Ibid., p. 92.

21 Ibid., p. 91.

22 Deborah, Healey, ‘Painful Stories, Moments of Grace’, in Margaret, Mohrmann and Mark, Hanson (eds), Pain Seeking Understanding: Suffering, Medicine, and Faith (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 1999)Google Scholar.

23 Jay, Katz, The Silent World of Doctor and Patient (New Haven, CT: Free Press, 1984), p. 1Google Scholar.