The Anticipatory Corpse

“The book’s interdisciplinary nature, along with its careful analyses combined with concrete stories of real human struggles with death and dying, no doubt, will be of interest to those engaged in medicine, bioethics, philosophy, theology, and debates concerning public health policies; but all those interested in the place of the body in modern technoscientific culture will find it engaging and cogent.” —Per Caritatem

". . . this book will prove to be a seminal, conversation-changing monograph especially in bioethics and philosophy of medicine. . . . It will challenge the fundamental presuppositions that structure most courses in bioethics or death and dying. It is certainly a must-read for scholars and graduate students in these fields, but with guidance, it is an accessible and important text to use with undergraduates interested in bioethics or theology and medicine as well." —Modern Theology

"This is a genuinely novel approach that invites one to completely reassess why healthcare institutions and professionals function as they do. It also invites us to question how our lives are shaped by our anticipated deaths. . . . This is not an easy book, but it is worth devoting time to reading it and thinking about the questions it poses. It is beautifully written and carefully argued, and instead of shying away from difficult and potentially disruptive issues in modern medicine it exposes them and challenges us to think again." —Times Higher Education

“In this evocatively titled book, physician Bishop joins his Catholic sensibility with a Foucaldian analysis of medicine and power to expose the ambiguities and complexities of contemporary end-of-life issues. . . . Bishop examines issues such as how the need for donated organs since the 1950s has shaped care of the dying in troubling ways, the contesting passions surrounding the Terri Schiavo case, and the trivialization of the religious lives of caregivers and dying patients as wrought by the professionalization of palliative care.” —Library Journal

"The Anticipatory Corpse: Medicine, Power, and the Care of the Dying [is] a compelling read and a groundbreaking work in philosophy and bioethics. Written by physician, bioethicist, and philosopher Jeffrey P. Bishop, the book presents an eloquent argument as to how the profession’s care of dying persons has evolved as well as a provocative and insightful critique of the present state of such care. . . . The Anticipatory Corpse . . . is engaging, provocative, and difficult to put down. . . . For physicians, lawyers, philosophers, chaplains, nurses, and other professionals whose work is centered on life’s final chapter, I wholeheartedly recommend this book." —Journal of the American Medical Association

“Jeffrey Bishop . . . takes the reader on a journey into the past to provide insight into how the dead body plays an integral and unrecognized role in the present state of medicine in his book . . . . He argues that the corpse is the end of the practice of medicine.” —Journal of Medical Humanities

“It is hard to overestimate the importance of Bishop’s book, not least because of the unchallenged, well-nigh hegemonic place occupied by medicine in western culture . . . . The theological acuteness and pastoral warmth that flow through Jeffrey Bishop’s book make it the most compelling argument for the superiority of this type of humane medicine over the ubiquitous and utterly flaccid ‘biopsychosociospiritual’ pretensions of modern medical practice. But as a challenge to the story of western liberalism, and the central place of medicine within it, The Anticipatory Corpse is also the most important book of 2011.” —ABC Religion and Ethics

“The Anticipatory Corpse is interesting, provocative and important—one of the most novel contributions to the field of bioethics of the last several decades. Bishop has many illuminating new things to say about the ethics of medical care for the dying. In the process, he helps to explain why bioethics itself is in such a sad state.” —America

"In this brilliant book, Jeffrey Bishop, who is both a physician and a philosopher, turns his clinical and analytical gaze on medicine. His diagnosis is bleak: 'There is something rotten in the heart of medicine.' Nine of the ten chapters are devoted to the diagnosis, showing the source and history of the disease and some of its symptoms, always focusing on how medicine approaches death and care for the dying. . . . In the last chapter, he turns his attention to therapeutic possibilities for medicine and raises a series of provocative questions, the most provocative of which is the last line of his book: Might it not be that only theology can save medicine?" —The Christian Century

“The Anticipatory Corpse has the potential to become a classic in the field of medicine. . . . Bishop’s critique of contemporary medical practices and the fundamental philosophical questions underlying them are a stark reminder that the practices of medicine—many of them very good indeed—should not become ends in themselves.” —Ethics and Medicine

“The Anticipatory Corpse provides a rich set of philosophical, theological, and medical insights into end-of-life care, which continues to cry out for more humane ways of addressing the needs of patients and their families.” —The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly

“Bishop explores the philosophical, medical, and ethical imperatives that structure contemporary end-of-life care in this sophisticated, provocative book.” —Choice