Religion and Illness

What are the relevant conceptualities and terminologies marking the coupling of religion and medical interpretations of illness in different religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity? How do religious orientations influence courses of a disease? How do experiences of illness change images of the divine in late modernity? This collection of essays from a symposium held at the International Research Institute of the University of Heidelberg examines connections between religious and medical interpretations of illness in different cultures in order to suggest criteria for coupling religion and medicine in ways that enhance rather than diminish life. By discerning which relationships between religion and medicine appear to be beneficial and which harmful, the book as a whole proposes criteria that are not limited to a single scientific approach, cultural tradition, or time period (such as the present). The book has four parts, which deal with Islamic medicine, Chinese medicine, and the relationship between religion and medicine in both Jewish and Christian traditions. All chapters cover from antiquity to the present.

Annette Weissenrieder is Professor of New Testament at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union. She is author of Images of Illness in the Gospel of Luke: Insights of Ancient Medical Texts (2003).

Gregor Etzelmuller is Professor of Systematic Theology at Osnabruck University (Germany). He is author of Was geschieht beim Gottesdienst? (2014).