God and Nature Winter 2020
Grey’s Anatomy |
|
By Eugene E. Lemcio
Not long ago, I came upon a page in my outdated text--
recovered from a shelf of volumes needing to be purged--
where half the face is peeled aside
at once exposing vessel, bone, and nerve
a sight that takes your breath away.
It made me fall into a state of reverie.
What if our whole interior were instantly revealed
by some updated MRI or yet-to-be-invented fluoroscope?
We’d marvel at the interacting muscle, blood, and skeleton--
the real-time art of medicine.
But, even now, until that day (thanks to this musty Book),
my inner eye can see myself comprised-composed
of tubes, and threads, and joints—that push, pull, lift,
and cause our race to walk upright.
This makes me ask, “Am I too out of touch with
modern instruments and current practices to start again:
to fix, rebuild, restore—and then rejoice
at what a piece of work is humankind,
especially that skull-clad brain:
the heart of our self-consciousness?”
But has this fundamental work (and breakthroughs made since then)
equipped our fallen angels with abilities to hurt,
debase, destroy with greater cunning and efficiency?
The urge to ban, suppress, eliminate is close at hand.
However, is it better that this classic work
and all the subsequent advances be erased,
their future revelations hid?
Such knowledge is too wonderful.
Eugene Lemcio, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University, taught there for thirty-six years. He earned an M.Div. from Asbury Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Cambridge University (Trinity College). Gene began his academic career at Houghton College with a B.S. in zoology (and a minor in chemistry).
Not long ago, I came upon a page in my outdated text--
recovered from a shelf of volumes needing to be purged--
where half the face is peeled aside
at once exposing vessel, bone, and nerve
a sight that takes your breath away.
It made me fall into a state of reverie.
What if our whole interior were instantly revealed
by some updated MRI or yet-to-be-invented fluoroscope?
We’d marvel at the interacting muscle, blood, and skeleton--
the real-time art of medicine.
But, even now, until that day (thanks to this musty Book),
my inner eye can see myself comprised-composed
of tubes, and threads, and joints—that push, pull, lift,
and cause our race to walk upright.
This makes me ask, “Am I too out of touch with
modern instruments and current practices to start again:
to fix, rebuild, restore—and then rejoice
at what a piece of work is humankind,
especially that skull-clad brain:
the heart of our self-consciousness?”
But has this fundamental work (and breakthroughs made since then)
equipped our fallen angels with abilities to hurt,
debase, destroy with greater cunning and efficiency?
The urge to ban, suppress, eliminate is close at hand.
However, is it better that this classic work
and all the subsequent advances be erased,
their future revelations hid?
Such knowledge is too wonderful.
Eugene Lemcio, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University, taught there for thirty-six years. He earned an M.Div. from Asbury Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Cambridge University (Trinity College). Gene began his academic career at Houghton College with a B.S. in zoology (and a minor in chemistry).