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Sarah Masters reviews the film

Inside Islam

Inside Islam. a production of The History Channel, brings to light the striking commonalities among the sacred texts of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and suggests that textual differences between the Bible and Koran are not highly divisive.

Chaplains would be well aware that Islam claims a direct line to Abraham via his son Ishmael, while Judaism is linked to Abraham's son Isaac. But are you aware that the Koran reveres the Old Testament prophets, that Jesus is mentioned 93 times in the Koran, or that the Koran states that it was the Archangel Gabriel who transmitted the Word of God to the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century?

Among other interesting insights revealed in the film is the Islamic belief in the Virgin Birth and the view of Jesus as a divinely inspired prophet who was not crucified, but was lifted to heaven by Allah. Muhammad, like Jesus, was born under a brilliant star, according to the Koran.

This film covers in detail the history of Islam from the 7th century of Prophet Muhammad’s world to the present day. Inside Islam also highlights Islamic contributions to the modern world from the field of algebra to the fields of orthopedics and the first recorded treatments for mental illness.
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Completed: 2003
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Director: Mark Hufnail

If you are interested in purchasing this film, you can do so at http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Islam-History-Channel-Hufnail/dp/B00007J89E. The cost of the film is $19.99 for a DVD.

Sarah Masters is the Managing Director of the Hartley Film Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to cultivation, support, production and distribution of the best documentaries and audio meditations on world religions, spirituality, ethics and well-being.

Book Review

Chaplain Fred D. Wilcoxson, Ph.D., reviews

Medical Care at the End of Life, A Catholic Perspective

My experience with health care bio-ethics prior to accepting a position as Pastoral Care Supervisor at Health Central, a local community hospital, was limited to occasional requests to assist families through end of life decisions, generally in the patient’s final hours. This new position included the onus of being the Chairperson of the hospital Ethics Committee. My college ethics books and even Christian ethics texts often clouded rather than clarified my thinking. Over time and thanks to Beauchamp and Childress, the Florida Bioethics Network, and a Chaplain’s blog, I began to feel more comfortable in this role. It was, though, the reading and rereading of David F. Kelly’s book Medical Care at the End of Life, A Catholic Perspective that I realized that being the chairperson of the Ethics Committee could transition to a blessing from that of an onus.

Kelly drew the concepts together for me. In simple and understandable prose he encapsulated the essence of Roman Catholic theology, doctrine and canon, American civil law, and practical health care situations dealing with the end of life dilemma. Kelly succinctly covers topics from Ordinary and Extraordinary Means, Killing and Allowing to Die, to Decisions by competent Patients and Decisions for Incompetent Patients. He comprehensively examines the issue of Advanced Directives. Kelly also covers Hydration and Nutrition, Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, and Medical Futility. What he doesn’t do is attempt to force the Roman Catholic belief system on the reader. In some cases he is not in 100% agreement with that perspective.

What Kelly does do, at least for me, is to bring a refreshingly simple and rational view of the system of ethics that he has applied in the health care setting for over thirty years. He has instilled in me the hope that I can walk through the ethical decisions with patients, families, and the committee knowing that I can contribute with my own theology and a clearer and more balanced understanding of ethics as a process.

Kelly, David F.Medical Care at the End of Life, A Catholic Perspective, Georgetown University Press: Washington, DC (2007) pp 172.

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