Religion and Medicine in the United States

Catalog description

Students will explore overlapping narratives that characterize the relationship between the worlds of religion and medicine: (1) how various religious peoples, traditions, and institutions have understood health and wellness, and how these various understandings have shaped their approach to western medicine and/or healing practices, and (2) how the medical field and medical professionals have understood, engaged with, and dealt with resistance to medical treatment from religious people, traditions, and institutions. Examining these narratives will help students to understand the complexity of the relationship of religion and medicine, and to reexamine their understandings of what is meant by "do no harm."