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Physicians and ministers of today, in general, are still too remote from each other. There is often little understanding and less sympathy between the two groups. Previous publications have considered the philosophical aspects of religion and medicine, but this volume attempts to unify the two fields within a functional framework.
The book is a summary of two conferences sponsored by the New York Academy of Medicine. Contributors represent many disciplines: medicine, sociology, anthropology, ethics, and theology. The first conferences attempted to define the operational role of the minister and the physician, which in many aspects are strikingly similar. Both groups spent too little time with healthy persons who deserved guidance and support, since ill and disturbed people claimed much of the ministers' and almost all of the physicians' attention. An excellent section described the signs of serious mental pathology to guide the minister in his day-by-day duties.
The theme of