Essays in Pastoral Medicine

A remarkable time capsule of early 20th-century medical ethics, this collection bridges two worlds that rarely spoke publicly: the consulting room and the confessional. Austin O'Malley, a physician-theologian, tackles the thorniest questions facing doctors and clergy in an era of rapid medical advancement. When does a physician's duty to preserve life become a burden to be lifted? How should pastors counsel families facing impossible decisions? What moral weight does an ectopic pregnancy carry? These essays, written with the confidence of a man fluent in both Hippocrates and Aquinas, reveal a forgotten era when doctors and divines sat at the same table, honestly wrestling with the limits of human intervention. O'Malley doesn't pretend to easy answers. Instead, he offers something more valuable: a rigorous framework for thinking clearly when clarity seems impossible. For readers curious about how we arrived at modern bioethics, or anyone drawn to the durable question of how science and conscience should coexist, this volume serves as both historical document and practical meditation.