Treating the Body in Medicine and Religion

`Beginning with an unforgettable essay by the immortal Tris Engelhardt, this collection gets down to the serious business of reckoning with the fact that humans are bodies. That plain fact turns out to be the elephant in the room of contemporary bioethics. Bioethicists studiously ignore the elephant, not least because our embodiment exposes the tragic limits of secular liberal assumptions about morality, freedom, and human flourishing. In these wide-ranging essays, the reader will encounter new vistas of moral reasoning that open up when we venture beyond such limits to take the body seriously.' - Farr Curlin, MD, Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities, Duke University, USA `Given a puzzling time in bioethics when we at once seemingly pay more attention to bodies (such as when black and brown bodies are invoked over social justice concerns), but also seemingly deny the significance of bodies (such as our treatment of vulnerable persons with severe brain damage or brain death), this impressive volume--which boasts an impressive and ideologically diverse array of thinkers from across religious traditions-is much needed. Its pages contain precisely the kind of accumulated wisdom required to think through the discipline's current puzzle.' - Charles C. Camosy, Associate Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, Fordham University, USA `This volume takes us on a rare religious/cultural journey in the context of Abrahamic traditions to help us appreciate our role of stewardship. In a somewhat agnostic culture of medical practice in healthcare institutions around the world, the book fulfills a critical need by developing a theology of gratitude and spirituality that can better serve humanity's needs.' - Abdulaziz Sachedina, Endowed IIIT Professor of Islamic Studies, George Mason University, USA