In a real sense, amidst the fellowship of the Conference on Medicine and Religion, this “secular vs sacred” dichotomy can be assumed, and yet beyond that assumption many important questions remain to be explored.

Within traditional religious considerations, the care of souls is paramount, and yet the imaginary of most contemporary medicine is animated by pragmatic questions and framed by technological solutions: what are our technological, clinical, medical abilities? The assumed next question is “how” can we best achieve these goals regardless, but the question of whether or not we “should” rarely, if ever arises. Imagination, is there any room within medicine for the care of souls? How can or should care of souls How do we frame or define the boundaries for what we expect of medicine? In other words, what do we imagine of medicine not merely for the body but also for the good of ensouled persons? As Charles Taylor challenges us to consider “the secular” as something imagined, something framed by our individual and/or societal expectations, medicine, too, can be seen as a distinct “imaginary.” For instance, what do we envision as the role of medicine in caring for the soul? Within the secular Within this unity of focus, however, arise many questions on the nature and boundaries of healing, health, therapy, and more. Medicine offers care for people across the stages of life, from birth to death, seeking to alleviate suffering and further health and healing wherever able.

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