From Dark Night to Gentle Surrender
On the Ethics and Spirituality of Hospice Care
9781589661943
Distributed for University of Scranton Press
From Dark Night to Gentle Surrender
On the Ethics and Spirituality of Hospice Care
Drawing from her many years of experience as a hospice nurse and her training as a theologian, Patricia Kobielus Thompson offers in The Dark Night of the Soul instruction to those providing care for terminally ill patients. Thompson finds in the poetry and other writings of Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross a wisdom that she argues will assist caregivers in comforting their patients through the trying times just before death. Though much has been written on Saint John of the Cross, Thompson’s application of these works is wholly new and rooted in deep empathy.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One: Hospice Care
Origins of Today’s Modern Hospice Concept
Cicely Saunders and the First Modern Hospice
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The Avoidance of Death
The Present Re-Awakening
Newer Developments
Goals of Hospice Care
Principles of Hospice Care
The Hospice Code of Ethics
Summary
Chapter Two: Ethical Considerations and Their Development
Direction and Focus of These Considerations
Convergence of Thought and Development of Focus
Aristotle: The Nichomachean Ethics
Thomas Aquinas: The Medieval Synthesis
Summary of Ancient and Medieval Emphases
The Hippocratic Writings: Medicine’s Early Documents
Philosophical Considerations
Immanuel Kant: Deontological or Obligation-Based Theory
Utilitarianism and Consequentialism in Retrospect
W. D. Ross: Theory of Prima Facie Duties
Positive and Negative Rights
Mid-Twentieth-Century Growth in Biomedical Ethics
The Principles Grounding Modern Bioethical
Covenant Responsibility
Virtue Ethics: A Return to the Beginning
Summary
Chapter Three: The Dark Night of the Soul
Mysticism
John of the Cross: Sixteenth-Century Spanish Mystic
Sixteenth-Century Spain: Literature and Milieu
The Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Mystics: John’s Place
Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul
Dark Night: The Poem and the Purpose of John’s Commentaries
The Structure of Ascent and Dark Night
Natural Human Passions—Acceptable or To Be Negated?
Does John Negate Our Natural Intellect?
Virtue as an Expression of the Contemplative Soul
Modern Authors
Women, Spirituality, and Health Care
Summary
Chapter Four: Practitioners and the Dark Night
Medicine and the Law—Influence over Health Care Practitioners’ Decision-Making
Personal Practice: Practitioners and the Dark Night
One Man’s Personal Experience—Spirituality and the Health Care System
Delving into Essentials: From Nursing to Priesthood—One Man’s Journey
Practitioners: Discernment, Honesty, and Virtue-Centered Practice
Women’s Issues: A Personal Note
Hospice, Humility, and a Virtuous Professional Life
The Process of Discernment
Personal Background and Point of View: Our Responsibility
Summary
Chapter Five: Patients and the Dark Night
Acceptance, Letting Go, and Resolution of “Unfinished Business”
Theologian and Patient: Meeting of the Mind and Heart
Attachment in Our Modern Society
Practitioners’ Approach to Patients and Families in Light of the Dark Night
Additional Thoughts and Synthesis for Practitioners
Summary
Chapter Six: Summary and Conclusions: Contemporary Spirituality for Terminal Illness
General Overview
The Documents of Vatican Council II
The Consistent Ethic of Life
Further Reflections on The Consistent Ethic of Life
The Pope Speaks
Conclusion
Notes
References Consulted
Index
Introduction
Chapter One: Hospice Care
Origins of Today’s Modern Hospice Concept
Cicely Saunders and the First Modern Hospice
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The Avoidance of Death
The Present Re-Awakening
Newer Developments
Goals of Hospice Care
Principles of Hospice Care
The Hospice Code of Ethics
Summary
Chapter Two: Ethical Considerations and Their Development
Direction and Focus of These Considerations
Convergence of Thought and Development of Focus
Aristotle: The Nichomachean Ethics
Thomas Aquinas: The Medieval Synthesis
Summary of Ancient and Medieval Emphases
The Hippocratic Writings: Medicine’s Early Documents
Philosophical Considerations
Immanuel Kant: Deontological or Obligation-Based Theory
Utilitarianism and Consequentialism in Retrospect
W. D. Ross: Theory of Prima Facie Duties
Positive and Negative Rights
Mid-Twentieth-Century Growth in Biomedical Ethics
The Principles Grounding Modern Bioethical
Covenant Responsibility
Virtue Ethics: A Return to the Beginning
Summary
Chapter Three: The Dark Night of the Soul
Mysticism
John of the Cross: Sixteenth-Century Spanish Mystic
Sixteenth-Century Spain: Literature and Milieu
The Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Mystics: John’s Place
Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul
Dark Night: The Poem and the Purpose of John’s Commentaries
The Structure of Ascent and Dark Night
Natural Human Passions—Acceptable or To Be Negated?
Does John Negate Our Natural Intellect?
Virtue as an Expression of the Contemplative Soul
Modern Authors
Women, Spirituality, and Health Care
Summary
Chapter Four: Practitioners and the Dark Night
Medicine and the Law—Influence over Health Care Practitioners’ Decision-Making
Personal Practice: Practitioners and the Dark Night
One Man’s Personal Experience—Spirituality and the Health Care System
Delving into Essentials: From Nursing to Priesthood—One Man’s Journey
Practitioners: Discernment, Honesty, and Virtue-Centered Practice
Women’s Issues: A Personal Note
Hospice, Humility, and a Virtuous Professional Life
The Process of Discernment
Personal Background and Point of View: Our Responsibility
Summary
Chapter Five: Patients and the Dark Night
Acceptance, Letting Go, and Resolution of “Unfinished Business”
Theologian and Patient: Meeting of the Mind and Heart
Attachment in Our Modern Society
Practitioners’ Approach to Patients and Families in Light of the Dark Night
Additional Thoughts and Synthesis for Practitioners
Summary
Chapter Six: Summary and Conclusions: Contemporary Spirituality for Terminal Illness
General Overview
The Documents of Vatican Council II
The Consistent Ethic of Life
Further Reflections on The Consistent Ethic of Life
The Pope Speaks
Conclusion
Notes
References Consulted
Index