Relational health care: A practical theology of personhood

Health Care is a relational activity but in the contemporary setting this relational dimension often takes second place to technological possibilities, professional expertise and economics. In this context the vulnerable person at the heart of health care may be lost. This book brings theology and health care into dialogue to advance the conversation between these two disciplines that serve persons at their most vulnerable points. Drawing on the work of John Macmurray and Emmanuel Levinas, 'Relational Health Care' provides a conceptual framework based on understanding persons in relational terms. A number of controversial cases are investigated to demonstrate the need for relational health care. Re-conceiving the human person in this way enables new insights to be brought to bear on the clinical encounter in a manner that genuinely respects all persons involved: patients, families, friends and staff. This practical theology engages social, ethical and aesthetic dimensions of health care and affirms that it is through illness, disease and debility that the person is unveiled as relational. 'Relational Health Care' is for health care professionals, philosophers and theologians.