Spirit of Medicine

Examination of relationship between medicine, religion, and society; how religion is help or hindrance to health; and what health care might look like beyond biomedical clinic. Examination of historical entwinement of religion, medicine, and society in Western antiquity to early modern period; disentanglement in Enlightenment to early 20th century; and confluence of science, technology, and capitalism in biomedicine compartmentalized from religion today. Conceptualization of rhetorics and epistemologies of healing—what it means to be healed and how one would know—and put in tension with faith healings and religion-as-medicine, medicine-as-religion, and integrated approaches. Analysis of alternatives to biomedical status quo in theoretical medicine and in health care delivery, with particular attention to questions of justice and holistic care in U.S. and of policy and practice globally.

P/NP or letter grading.