In Good Health

Caspary studied medicine and theology in Mainz and Berlin and then moved to the UK to study medical ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College, London. Her doctorate degree is in the philosophy of health, and she has worked as consultant for various government entities in the UK and now is affiliated with Berlin-Buch research campus. Her interests are in the areas of the transfer of basic science to clinical practice, and science and politics. In this book she engages with a range of issues, backing her discussion with examination of texts as well as practices, including a detailed look at UK stem cell policies. Her study discusses early philosophical and theological reflections on health, well-being, the role of reason, natural medicine and demonic powers, and the hierarchy of physical and spiritual health, among other topics. She reads Augustine closely for discussion of such topics as the material body, the human soul, physical disease and human sinfulness. In the final chapter, on the Anglo-American health debate, she examines the ideas of Christopher Boorse, H. Tristram Engelhardy, and Lennart Nordenfelt, and looks at contemporary Christian voices on health and healing in the works of Karl Barth, Stanley Hauerwas, and in orthodox theology. The book is distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)