The Secular–Sacred Divide in Medicine
Michael J. Balboni, Tracy A. Balboni
Oxford Medicine Online October 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1093/med/9780199325764.003.0007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that modern Western consciousness is structured by a deep dualism that separates medicine from religion, dividing human nature, knowledge, and social institutions. |
Abstract
This chapter argues, in addition to the plausibility structures described in Chapter 6, that modern consciousness comprises a series of related bifurcations of life and that medicine is a social institution that is informed by understandings of human nature, human knowledge, and social structures that fall on the opposite side of the wall from religion. Modern Western societies advance this dualism to such an extent that there appears to be no unity or interconnection between “opposite” spheres, divided between immanence and transcendence. This consciousness leads to social structures that divide human nature (body vs. soul), human knowledge (science vs. special revelation), and social structures based on a privatization of religion, the secularization of time and space, and a strict separation between the state and church.