Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: faith

  • Faith and symphony: Anton Bruckner’s trials and triumphs

    Michael YafiChaden YafiHouston, Texas, United States Immersed in the music, the young composer conducted the orchestra with such fervor that he scarcely noticed that more than half the audience had slipped away. When the symphony came to its final notes, instead of the applause he had hoped for, he was met with jeers and boos.…

  • Faith in medicine

    Tyler BeauchampAugusta, Georgia, United States When I was in college, I worked for a nursing unit in the trauma ward. One patient had been in a horrible car accident and barely survived. I visited her for the better part of two weeks before she began to improve. One afternoon, as I was passing by her…

  • Spirituality in medicine

    Gautam SenKolkata, India Imagine a hospitalized patient in the advanced stages of a difficult disease. He wonders whether he will survive and, if he does, in what state he will spend the remainder of his life. Alone in bed, he sometimes finds himself struggling with the meaning of life. He feels isolated, helpless, and lonely.…

  • When needs trumped faith and dogma: Early twentieth century Los Angeles women’s social conscience

    Saty Satya-MurtiSanta Maria, California, United StatesMichael EnghLos Angeles, California, United States In early twentieth century Los Angeles, efforts to improve social conditions and meet the needs of the underserved and deprived often sprang from faith-based social organizations. Two notable women pioneers, Mary Julia Workman (1871-1964) and Katherine B. Higgins (1880-1967), strove to elevate the social…

  • Faith and patron saints during the Black Death

    Mariella ScerriMellieha, Malta The Black Death of 1348 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European history. Although it was not the first plague epidemic, the Black Death swept through Europe, killing millions indiscriminately and affecting society like no other natural calamity.1 Attempts to understand the plague began with science, but the search for answers was…

  • Science versus religion: The medieval disenchantment

    JMS PearceHull, England History is a novel whose author is the people.—Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863) In medieval times, knowledge, beliefs, and faith were largely centered upon a divine being. Christianity had replaced the paganism and barbarism of earlier centuries. Most experiences not explained by religious creed were attributed to mysterious forces of enchantment. The gradual…

  • The sanctity of blood: Jehovah’s Witnesses and bloodless medicine

    Margo PeytonBaltimore, Maryland, United States Tammy said that her throat looked like that of a bullfrog croaking on an August night. At her local emergency room, her blood pressure was 240/40 mmHg due to profound aortic valve insufficiency complicated by an aortic aneurysm. Her condition necessitated high-risk cardiac surgery, a procedure that carries the potential…

  • A happy individual knows nothing

    Basil BrookeWitwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa It seems that most people, most of the time, tend to avoid the really big questions, the hows and whys of existence, preferring to wait and see what happens when they die. They may tell you, and quite rightly, that whilst alive it is best to get on with the…