The Institute for Medical Humanities, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1019 Ball, Galveston, TX 77550, USA.
J Relig Health. 2011 Mar;50(1):62-74. doi: 10.1007/s10943-010-9320-4.
Modern medicine serves a religious function for modern Americans as a conduit through which science can be applied directly to the human body. The first half of this paper will focus on the theoretical foundations for viewing medicine as a religious practice arguing that just as a hierarchical structured authoritarian church historically mediated access to God, contemporary Western medicine provides a conduit by which the universalizable truths of science can be applied to the human being thereby functioning as a new established religion. I will then illustrate the many parallels between medicine and religion through an analysis of rituals and symbols surrounding and embedded within the modern practice of medicine. This analysis will pay special attention to the primacy placed on secret interior knowledge of the human body. I will end by responding to the hope for a "secularization of American medicine," exploring some of the negative consequences of secularization, and arguing that, rather than seeking to secularize, American medicine should strive to use its religious features to offer hope and healing to the sick, in keeping with its historically religious legacy.
现代医学对现代美国人起着一种宗教功能，它是科学可以直接应用于人体的一种媒介。本文的前半部分将重点关注将医学视为一种宗教实践的理论基础，认为正如历史上等级结构的独裁教会为人们与上帝沟通提供了媒介一样，当代西方医学提供了一种渠道，使科学的普遍真理可以应用于人类，从而成为一种新的既定宗教。然后，我将通过分析现代医学实践中围绕和嵌入的仪式和象征，来说明医学和宗教之间的许多相似之处。这种分析将特别关注对人体内部秘密知识的重视。最后，我将回应对“美国医学世俗化”的希望，探讨世俗化的一些负面影响，并认为，美国医学不应该试图世俗化，而应该努力利用其宗教特征为病人提供希望和治疗，以符合其历史上的宗教传统。
