Pastorally Shaping Theological Engagements with Cancer

The editors first met each other via email in early 2020. Brian was living in Melbourne, Australia, and Ron in Leuven, Belgium. Both of us had shared the experience of cancer, with all of its mortal and theological questions, and both of us had published articles representing our initial theological reflections on our journeys with cancer. After reading each other’s articles, we wondered about other published accounts of theological and biblical perspectives on cancer. A quick survey of the current literature shows numerous popular books on cancer from a Christian perspective that include devotionals, reflections, and prayers. There are also several books paying more in-depth theological attention to cancer.

A well-established academic work co-authored by Leonard M. Hummel (a theologian) and Gayle E. Woloschak (a scientist) is Chance, Necessity, Love: An Evolutionary Theology of Cancer (Hummel and Woloschak 2017), which addresses the medical condition of cancer as an “evolutionary phenomenon” (Preface, Kindle edition, no page number), and then proposes a “practical theology of cancer” (Introduction) stemming from the hope in God’s ultimate provision of relief from suffering. There is also a less academic book, co-authored by an oncologist, William A. Fintel, and theologian, Gerald R. McDermott, called Cancer: A Medical and Spiritual Guide for Patients and Their Families (Fintel and McDermott 2004).

Deanna Thompson’s Glimpsing Resurrection: Cancer, Trauma, and Ministry (Thompson 2018); J. Todd Billings’ Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ (Billings 2015); and Gillian Straine’s Cancer: A Pilgrim Companion (Straine 2017) all provide deeply personal, yet academically focused, theological reflections on living with the trauma of incurable cancer. Two light-hearted, personal, and non-academic, yet no less serious, theological reflections on cancer are Cancer and Theology, edited by Jake Bouma and Erik Ullestad (Bouma and Ullestad 2013), and Jason Micheli’s Cancer is Funny: Keeping Faith in Stage-Serious Chemo (Micheli 2016).

All in all, however, we discovered little in terms of robust pastoral and theological reflections on the theological questions raised by cancer, in combination with its personal and pastoral realities. In 1998, Jann Aldredge-Clanton published Counseling People with Cancer (Aldredge-Clanton 1998), which emphasized pastoral care for cancer patients experiencing emotional, existential, and physical trauma by focusing on sacred images and stories of hope. Clanton’s book is perhaps the closest to the overall theme that we desire to investigate through this Special Issue, bringing together personal and pastoral concerns, albeit through an updated lens with multiple voices having different perspectives.

Nearly everyone will be touched by cancer to some degree at some point in their lives. Of course, there are many forms of cancer, and its diagnosis and treatment affect people in different ways. The diverse stories recounted in this Special Issue illustrate this, and include experiences with colon, breast, and prostate cancer, as well as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, among others.

With all illnesses, as mentioned above, people respond differently to diagnoses; no “one” path can be taken when trying to make sense of cancer and its impact. We are unique creatures in unique contexts. Likewise, the authors contributing to this Special Issue come from different Christian traditions and theological perspectives, and their reflections are uniquely their own. Their responses to their own cancer journey are also diverse. Some find comfort within their own Christian tradition, while others ended up finding aspects of their own tradition insufficient. All, however, have engaged critically with their Christian faith, as an experience with cancer will force one to do, raising such questions as, Where is God? How does God engage with me? Can God miraculously intervene? Why does cancer exist? How do I respond to these challenges? Of course, the questions are numerous and unending, but as you will see in these chapters, they are central. We think that the asking and processing of questions will help in the “redemptive” struggle with cancer without dismissing its devastating effects. As Deanna Thompson puts it,

To make a struggle redemptive is not to glorify it, and certainly not to imagine it as a providential plan of God, but to allow it to be a struggle with God, bound up in God’s own life with us. I constantly tell my students, those aiming to be a pastoral presence to suffering people, that coming alongside people as they ask questions of God and as they struggle with suffering and pain is one of the greatest privileges of Christian ministry. It is an art of ministry to know how to help people form and articulate their own questions in ways that draw them toward communion with God. It is an art that demands a lifetime of cultivation through patiently listening to people and yielding to the Holy Spirit who guides us into truth.

(Thompson 2018).

The articles in this Special Issue do not propose to give solutions to the pastoral difficulties and questions that arise with serious illness, but we hope that they nonetheless help in the struggle along the way. We hope that “listening” to the contributors will give our readers insights on how to pastorally listen to others that are wrestling with cancer. We have asked the authors to speak from their own personal and pastoral perspectives.

The first article, by Marjolaine Legros-Hoffner, considers how some women remain silent while enduring illness or suffering brought on by cancer, which ends up causing them additional harm and a sense of loss. She draws from African American philosopher Audre Lorde and medieval mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe to help regain a voice of hope for women facing cancer or even imminent death. Next, David J. Courey looks to Martin Luther with a Pentecostal lens, appropriating Luther’s theology of the cross for prayer for healing from cancer. Ronald T. Michener then submits that humility and dependency on others is critical to embodying human dignity before God and others, while anticipating the ultimate healing hope of resurrection and new creation. Walter Creighton Marlowe looks to the Old Testament, especially the wisdom of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), to speak to healing and life’s fragility. This is followed by Sarah Anne Beattie’s article encouraging hope and lament in the surety of God’s presence even through the trials of cancer. The Special Issue then concludes with Christopher P. Turner’s reflection on love and loss and the flurry of emotions when one faces the suffering of a child with cancer.

It is our hope that these diverse reflections on Christian faith and cancer will provide theological, biblical, and pastoral insights to those who have suffered the devastation of cancer themselves or alongside their friends and family. Further, we also trust that the articles will stimulate further research in pastoral care and theological reflection for cancer patients and their loved ones. One area deserving more exploration is that of congregational care for cancer patients, their families, and those who have been treated for cancer. Whether pastors or lay people, church congregations would collectively benefit from special educational sessions devoted to caring for others (existentially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually) with serious illness in the church. Individuals and families suffering under the trauma of diagnosis must learn how to navigate dependency upon caregivers (physicians, hospital staff, family members). Coping skills combined with emotional comfort and hope are required for these sudden and radical shifts in life. Perhaps this Special Issue may function as a catalyst for such ongoing work.

As editors, we give our heartfelt thanks to the contributors of this Special Issue. It has not only required academic energy and insight, but also significant emotional energy to pastorally process the implications of “being” Christian and coping with cancer. We also express our thanks to our managing editor, Ms. Violet Li, who has been consistently patient, uncompromisingly efficient, and always helpful.

We close with a fun Australian phrase that Ron learned from Brian shortly after they met: “I hope you are traveling well, mate.” It is our hope that these reflections will help you “travel well” as you, inevitably, at some point in life, walk through the shadows of cancer yourself or with others.