More on Terri Schiavo Case

The new issue of The Christian Century magazine has an article by Allen Verhey of Duke Divinity School on Terri Schiavo and the nutrition/hydration issue.  Because Verhey tries to present arguments from Christian premises on both sides, as sympathetically as possible, the article may be useful as a teaching tool.

Verhey presents the argument for maintaining nutrition and hydration:

    "Terri might not count for much as the world counts, but she surely counts as among 'the least of these' in Jesus’ parable. 'In as much' as you gave food to the hungry or drink to the thirsty, Jesus said, you did it 'as unto me' (Matt. 25). . . .

    "If we fail to see life as a good, as a benefit to her, we have evidently accepted an unbiblical and Cartesian dualism of body and soul, reduced the self to its powers of rationality and choice, and reduced the body to a mere container for what’s really important and valuable."

Then he presents the argument on the other side:

    "Christians regard life as a good, to be sure, but not as a second god. Remembering Jesus and following him, we can hardly make our own survival the law of our being. Christians may refuse medical care so that another may live. They may refuse medical procedures that may lengthen their days but do nothing to make those days more apt for the tasks of reconciliation or fellowship.

    "It is not shocking that Terri would have suggested she would not want artificial nutrition and hydration if she were in a persistent vegetative state. That decision must be honored if we would respect Terri’s Christian integrity. . . .  If we regard the preservation of her biological life as a benefit to her, then we have evidently adopted an unbiblical vitalism, reduced her to her body and her body to a mere organism."

He characterizes the issue between the two competing arguments:  "Both sides agree that Terri is to be treated and cared for as an embodied self. They disagree about whether the greater risk is that she will be reduced to her capacities for rational choice or that she will be reduced to a biological organism."