Christian Ethics and Nursing Practice
Richard B. Steele Heidi A. Monroe
Foreword by Lorie M. Wild
CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND NURSING PRACTICE
Copyright © 2020 Richard B. Steele and Heidi A. Monroe. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Cascade Books
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-6504-2
hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-6505-9
ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-6506-6
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Names: Steele, Richard B., 1952–, author. | Monroe, Heidi A., author. | Wild, Lorie M., foreword.
Title: Christian ethics and nursing practice / Richard B. Steele and Heidi A. Monroe ; foreword by Lorie M. Wild.
Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2020 | Includes references and index.
Identifiers :isbn 978-1-5326-6504-2 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-6505-9 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-6506-6 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Nursing. | Christian ethics. | Nursing ethics.
Classification: R725.56 .S74 2020 (paperback) | R725.56 .S74 (ebook)
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 04/29/20
Praise for Christian Ethics and Nursing Practice
“Christian Ethics and Nursing Practice makes a thought-provoking and unique contribution to the nursing literature. Its detailed exploration of the linkages between the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses and the scriptural strands of law, holiness, wisdom, and prophecy provide a robust framework within which to consider the realities of nursing practice. The culminating explication of moral maturity in the Christian nurse is particularly instructive. This team of scholars provides a vital resource for nurses.”
—Mary Molewyk Doornbos, Registered Nurse; Chair and Professor of Nursing, Calvin University; author of Transforming Care: A Christian Vision of Nursing Practice
“Within healthcare and nursing there has been a growing emphasis on the importance of spirituality. Models of spirituality are wide and diverse as they try to encompass dimensions of caring that focus on meaning, purpose, love, hope, and God. However, sometimes in the quest to find common ground between different viewpoints, the particularities of religious traditions get lost or are downplayed in ways that can strip the unique power of religious traditions to bring healing to vulnerable people. Similarly, within healthcare ethics, there is a push towards values that are universally acceptable. Again the particularities of religious traditions can easily be occluded to the detriment of our moral formation. This book helps to move us beyond the general to the particularities of the Christian tradition and asks and seeks to answer the question: what might it look like if we took biblically based Christian ethics seriously within a nursing context? The result is a deep, rich, challenging, and potentially healing book that offers an important contribution to the ongoing conversations around the role of spirituality and religion within healthcare. This is an important book that deserves serious consideration.”
—John Swinton, Registered Mental Nurse; Registered Nurse for People with Learning Disabilities; Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen
“Drs. Steele and Monroe have articulated a masterful and scholarly treatise on one of the recurring conundrums in a Christian’s delivery of ethical health care, i.e., ‘Which comes first, “my sacred” or “my secular” Being?’ Their text undertakes a systematic and rational discourse prodding the reader to consider the distinctiveness, the interrelatedness, and the imperative amenability of these two seemingly opposing elements; and yet, ultimately, to draw the indisputable reasoning that, from a Christian’s standpoint of ethics in health care, the sacred and the secular are one and the same. Case vignettes from graduate nursing students supplement each chapter, providing circumstances and practicalities to support the authors’ premises for finite empathy and infinite spirituality as the ultimate persuasions for prioritizing and proffering ethical and selfless clinical service to humankind. This is a must read for both the health professions student as well as the seasoned practitioner.”
—Samuel Lin, Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General (Retired), US Public Health Service; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Retired), US Department of Health and Human Services
“Steele and Monroe provide an exquisite text connecting four strands of moral discourse found in the Bible to the professional Code of Ethics for Nurses. Deep, contextual analyses of biblical texts are presented and compared to the moral values, character, and ethical comportment required of the professional nurse. Each chapter culminates in current illustrations of the relationship of moral discourse in the Bible to the virtuous practice of today’s nurse through clinical stories. Additionally, the authors provide excellent reflective exercises that may generate group discussion or personal reflection to enhance understanding of the significant connections between Christian faith and the practice of professional nursing.”
—Cheryl B. Crotser, Registered Nurse; Nurse Executive-Board Certified; Dean and Director of Graduate Programs, School of Nursing, Roberts Wesleyan College
“Steele and Monroe attempt to negotiate two interpretive frameworks of caregiving and succeed in doing so. They describe the various aspects of the nurse’s professional roles, while always acknowledging that for the Christian practitioner the moral life is defined as imitation of Christ expressed in habits of holy living and obedience to standards of goodness. They, then, provide analytical mechanisms for the Christian practitioner. In doing so, they offer an overall model for the nurse in a clinical setting to fulfill ‘vocation’—in both the narrow sense of professional vocation and broad sense of living for God. The work is obviously meant as a text but can well serve the veteran nurse addressing seemingly endless morally complex circumstances.”
—James R. Thobaben, Dean, School of Theology & Formation, Asbury Theological Seminary; author of Health Care Ethics: A Comprehensive Christian Resource
“Steele and Monroe have done a superb job in presenting the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses within a solid biblical framework. This gem of a book informs ethical nursing practice from a clearly articulated Christian worldview. The theology and nursing expertise of the authors blend a scholarly and professional aspect to ethical practice that is both intellectually sound and readily applicable to patient care situations across the lifespan and in diverse practice settings. As a nurse educator, I find the tips and strategies embedded in each chapter especially helpful for enhancing the student learning experience. A wonderful resource for both undergraduate and graduate nursing courses.”
—Valorie Orton, Registered Nurse; Clinical Nurse Leader; Assistant Professor of Nursing, George Fox University
In Loving Memory
of
Sarah Lynn Steele
(December 23, 1984–November 14, 2017)
Figures
Figure 0.1. Anonymous, Salome and midwife bathing the infant Jesus [fresco]. (Twelfth century). Dark Church, Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Midwife_Salome#/media/File:Salome_capp.JPG.