Beneath the Skin

felt as if I failed myself and society,” one San Francisco resident told their local news station after nally contracting COVID this past year. To the same reporter, a physician confessed that getting “coronated” “felt like a moral failing on some level”; meanwhile even those testing negative expressed embarrassment and anxiety related to the sni es. All this checks out with a study from 2022 which reported that around 30% of participants felt guilt or shame about contracting the virus, as it indicated they had neglected to take the right preventative measures.

is isn’t a rona-speci c quandary. Catching the seasonal u, RSV, or any number of “things going around” could mean you didn’t wear your mask properly, or you went to a party with the wrong kind of people, or you didn’t drink enough elderberry syrup to safeguard your immune system. You made some miscalculation worthy of your punishment. Even cancer is, for some, attended by stigma. In her book No Cure for Being Human, church historian Kate Bowler tells story after story about the bizarre advice and o -thewall home remedies she received following her stage-IV diagnosis. Strangers—WebMD experts that they were—believed she was to blame for the tumors in her colon, and that if only she “fought harder,” she would be cured.

As for wellness, the same basic theory prevails. You can be healthy, it is thought, as long as you imbibe the right elixirs and cultivate proper lifestyle practices. ough the speci cs of this observation are modern, its general shape is timeless—what theologians call “the law,” wherein literal cleanliness equates to holiness and transgression invites disease. Of course, this isn’t the whole story; even those of us on our best behavior wind up at death’s door eventually.

In this issue of e Mockingbird, our contributors balk at feeling shame for their sickness by writing boldly of their own. Our magazine has often leaned toward the personal essay form, but never more so than with Sickness and Health, a topic that cuts so close to the bone it could never not be, well, personal.

From doctors and patients alike, we’ve collected essays on late-stage cancer, intergenerational illness, vexing autoimmune disorders, miscarriage—and faith that endures it all. In interviews, Ross Douthat recounts his experience of chronic Lyme disease, while Daniel Harris challenges popular notions about disability. We consult journalist Rina Raphael about the multibillion-dollar wellness industry and where its marketing claims lead desperate American consumers astray.

Physician Lydia Dugdale explains how art can in uence the way we live and die, and theologian Simeon Zahl lays out how the Church might o er ordinary people a cure for soul-sickness—and why it often fails to. e gospels are clear that while Jesus miraculously healed peoples’ bodies beyond their expectations and in spite of their deserving, his foremost concern was their inner maladies, in particular the forgiveness of their sins. In arranging this magazine, we prioritized a similar concern. We reckoned directly with the limitations of the body, while paying close attention to the things submerged beneath what the eye can see. Under the skin of this issue there pulses a steady understanding that, whether in sickness or in health, our most abiding needs require abiding tonics: unconditional love, mercy, and grace.

e Editors

By Bill Gardner