Published: 2019-12-23

Illness as a theological problem – a draft for the ecumenical depiction

Jacek Froniewski
Studia Oecumenica
Section: Articles
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/so.397

Abstract

Illness, in every person’s life, evokes many existential questions and, therefore, it also poses a significant, theological problem. Since the experience of illness is universal, it seems essential to depict this problem from an ecumenical perspective. The first part of this article is an introduction to the problem and presents the definition of illness as well as seeks the common ground between modern medicine and contemporary theology. In the following parts, the author presents the problem of illness from the purely ecumenical perspective and depicts the contemporary perceptions of illness from the points of view of orthodox and protestant theologies. The position of orthodox theology on illness has been based on the works of J.-C. Larchet and to make complete in thoughts of J. Zizioulas. The protestant theology of illness has been considered on the basis of the works of K. Barth. Each of these Christian traditions is unique to a great extent, but has a personalistic element in common, which seems to be an important factor in the dialogue between theology and modern medicine.

Keywords:

theology of illness; orthodox theology; protestant theology; ecumenical theology

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Froniewski, J. (2019). Illness as a theological problem – a draft for the ecumenical depiction. Studia Oecumenica, 19, 73–96. https://doi.org/10.25167/so.397

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