Bodies, Agency, and the Relational Self: A Pauline Approach to the Goals and Use of Psychiatric Drugs
In this essay, I use the theological anthropology of the apostle Paul as a diagnostic lens in order to bring into focus some implicit assumptions about human personhood in the goals and methods of treatment with psychotropic medications. I argue that Paul views the body as a mode of participation in...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2018]
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In: |
Christian bioethics
Year: 2018, Volume: 24, Issue: 3, Pages: 288-301 |
RelBib Classification: | HC New Testament NBE Anthropology NCH Medical ethics VA Philosophy ZD Psychology |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | In this essay, I use the theological anthropology of the apostle Paul as a diagnostic lens in order to bring into focus some implicit assumptions about human personhood in the goals and methods of treatment with psychotropic medications. I argue that Paul views the body as a mode of participation in larger relational matrices in both vulnerable and vital ways. He thus sees the self as constituted relationally rather than as fundamentally isolated and self-determining. Such an understanding of personhood yields an account of human agency as co-constituted and freedom as interpersonally mediated and sustained. From this perspective, the proper goal for psychiatric medication is the removal of barriers to life-giving human connections; methods of care for persons in psychological distress may include medication, but they also require embodied personal encounter. |
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ISSN: | 1744-4195 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Christian bioethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/cb/cby011 |