Minds in the Making

Nursing: A Call to Care - Comparing the current practice with the history and theory of nursing

This presentation of the author’s honors project was given at a Nursing Department Seminar at Calvin College on May 7, 2009.

History continually shapes the practice of nursing. Currently, nursing is driven by science, technology, and professionalism. Although nursing has become an extremely successful business, it has shrunk from its original glory and perhaps lost some of its most fundamental values. As the emphasis on science and job increases, the art and ministry of caring seems to disappear from the practice of nursing, and people are noticing the poverty of care they experience in the hospitals. Science, efficiency, money, and technology are not bad things and greatly contribute to the practice of nursing. However, if they become the end goal, citizens will turn away from the current business of nursing. The purpose of this project is to explore the concept of nursing care and the inspired work of the early church in order to challenge and enlarge nurses’ vision of nursing and creativity.

Listen and view slides from this presentation

In Glittering Vices, Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung carefully parses the meanings and attractions of the seven deadly sins. Historically and biblically informed, her explorations lead readers to meditate on personal participation in these sins. She doesn’t forget to provide a way out of these meditations. If the first part of each chapter describing one of the sins—envy, vainglory, sloth, avarice, anger, gluttony and lust—is a mirror, then the end of each chapter is a window on the other side of which is Christ, armed with the power to transform even the deadliest of vices into virtues.

Read more about Glittering Vices by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung >>

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