Christian Worldview Concepts

Christian Worldview and Medical Ethics - Part I

A Matter of Perspective

Ethical issues in medicine, or any area for that matter, are issues precisely because individuals approach the same set of circumstances from different ethical perspectives. Each person possesses a lens through which he or she interprets the world and all of the variables that occur. In short, these lenses are worldviews — conceptual frameworks through which one's experiences are filtered and interpreted.

In the field of medicine there is ample opportunity to engage in a war of worldviews. Those who hold to a strict material view of the world take a much different approach to the ethical questions in human medicine than the person who believes in miracles wrought by a supernatural being. Those who view humans as the product of cellular systems influenced by environmental factors will likely approach the issue of human illness differently than one who believes humans were created in the image of God.

For this reason, it is necessary to map out a distinctly Christian medical ethic built upon the foundational elements of the Christian worldview. In this series of articles, I will attempt to outline the relationship of the Christian worldview with the ethical practice of medicine.