Hag Haggai
Zech Zechariah
Mal Malachi
New Testament:
Matt Matthew
Mark Mark
Luke Luke
John John
Acts Acts
Rom Romans
1–2 Cor 1–2 Corinthians
Gal Galatians
Eph Ephesians
Phil Philippians
Col Colossians
1–2 Thess 1–2 Thessalonians
1–2 Tim 1–2 Timothy
Titus Titus
Phlm Philemon
Heb Hebrews
Jas James
1–2 Pet 1–2 Peter
1–2–3 John 1–2–3 John
Jude Jude
Rev Revelation
Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books:
Tob Tobit
Jdt Judith
Add Esth Additions to Esther
Wis Wisdom of Solomon
Sir Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
Bar Baruch
1–2 Esd 1–2 Esdras
Ep Jer Epistle of Jeremiah
Sg Three The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews
Sus Susanna
Bel Bel and the Dragon
1–2 Macc 1–2 Maccabees
3–4 Macc 3–4 Maccabees
Pr Man Prayer of Manasseh
Introduction
“[Jesus is] our nurse . . . our healer.”
Epistle to Diognetus 9.6, in Richardson, 1953, p. 221
The Aim and Structure of this Book
The aim of this book is to show how the religious and moral teachings of the Christian Bible compare, contrast and correlate with the ethical standards of modern nursing, as stated in the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (hereinafter referred to as the Code; American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015). We intend it to be used as a textbook for courses in nursing ethics at Christian colleges and universities, and it is likely that many of our readers are themselves Christians, who have devoted their lives to caring for the sick, the injured, the elderly, the disabled and the dying as a way of living out their commitment to Jesus Christ. Such readers will presumably have a deep personal interest in knowing how closely the teachings of the Bible match the provisions of the ANA Code. But we recognize that many nursing students at Christian educational institutions belong to other religious traditions—or to none at all. We cherish the hope that this book will be useful to these readers as well. For we hope that they at least feel an interest in the general question of the relationship between “religion” and “health care,” even if they feel no need to reconcile the provisions of the Code with the norms of Christian discipleship mapped out in the Bible.
To accomplish our aim, we distinguish four main types or “strands” of moral discourse in the Bible—law, holiness, wisdom and prophecy—and correlate each of these strands with two or more of the nine provisions spelled out in the Code (ANA, 2015), as shown in Table 0.1 below. The left column lists the four strands and offers a “theme verse” for each strand. The theme verse for each strand is taken from one of the scriptural passages that will represent that strand later in the book. The relevance of the four theme verses to nursing practice may not be immediately obvious at first glance but will become clear as we proceed. The right column lists the nine provisions of the ANA Code, arranged in four groups, with each group bearing a general thematic correspondence with one of the four strands of biblical moral discourse.
| Table 0.1. The Four Strands and the Nine Provisions | |
| The Four Strands | The Nine Provisions |
| Strand 1: Law: “Keep the commandments . . . for your own well-being” (Deut 10:13). | Provision 1: The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person.Provision 2: The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population.Provision 3: The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient. |
| Strand 2: Holiness: “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 19:2; cf. Matt 5:48; 1 Pet 1:16). | Provision 5: The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth.Provision 6: The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care. |
| Strand 3: Wisdom: “God’s works will never be finished; and from him health spreads over all the earth” (Sirach 38:8b). | Provision 4: The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.Provision 7: The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy. |
| Strand 4: Prophecy: “No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (Luke 4:24). | Provision 8: The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.Provision 9: The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health policy. |
We recognize that the Bible says little if anything about many of the specific activities performed by modern registered nurses (RNs) and that many of the activities performed by persons named in the Bible as “nurses” would rarely, if ever, be performed by modern RNs. When the word nurse appears in the Bible as a verb (Hebrew: yānaq; Greek: anatrephō = nurture; thēlazō = give suck; trephō = feed), it often refers to breastfeeding, either by a child’s mother or wet nurse (Gen 21:7; Exod 2:7, 9; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 3:21; Song 8:1; Isa 66:11; Wis 7:4; Luke 11:27; 23:29). In one remarkable instance, God himself enables his people, wandering in the wilderness, to “suck” nourishment from their surroundings: “he nursed [them] with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock; curds from the herd, and milk from the flock . . .” (Deut 32:13b–14a). As a noun (Hebrew: yôneq; Greek trophos), “nurse” usually refers to a woman who cares for another’s child as a wet nurse or nursemaid during the child’s infancy (Num 11:12; Ruth 4:16; 2 Sam 4:4; 2 Kgs 11:2; 2 Chr 22:11; Isa 60:4), though she might stay on as a chambermaid after her charge grows up (Gen 24:59; 35:8). Saint Paul once uses the word in this sense, when he likens his apostolic work to that of “a nurse tenderly caring for her own children” (1 Thess 2:7).1 And the Epistle to Diognetus, an anonymous Christian writing of the second century, exhorts the reader to regard Jesus himself “as Nurse [trophos], Father, Teacher, Counselor, Healer [iatros], Mind, Light, Honor, Glory, Might, Life” (Richardson, 1953, p. 221). It is noteworthy that “nurse” heads this list, and that “healer” (or “doctor”) is included as well.2
Figure 0.1. Anonymous, Salome and midwife bathing the infant Jesus [fresco]. (Twelfth century). Dark Church, Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia. This fresco illustrates a scene from the Proto-Gospel of James, chapters 19–20 (Ehrman, 2003, pp. 69–70). The Proto-Gospel of James is a mid-second-century apocryphal