July 2022 - LPNI

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July 2022

Good nursing needs good theology

Florence Nightingale’s theological training

Most people know something about Florence Nightingale’s powerful influence on modern nursing practice, but few appreciate the theological formation she received.

In 1851 she passed her exam in nursing at the Kaiserwerth Institute near Dusseldorf in modern day Germany. That moment in Nightingale’s journey tells us about the importance of theological reflection in the work of care.

The Kaiserswerther Diakonie was opened in 1833 by Pastor Theodore Fliedner, as a school for training in the work of Christian care. He wanted women to be trained in both theology and in the science of quality nursing care. In subsequent years, this movement of training for the work of care, exploded across the globe with new institutes developed according to Fliedner’s model.

The twin foundations of this successful educational ministry were theology and science. This was answering two questions about good care: ‘Why do we do it?’ and ‘How do we do it?’

Fliedner’s influence spread into the English-speaking world, through the famous work of Florence Nightingale in the medical stations of the Crimean War.

The fundamental influence behind our modern nursing practice is that basic question, “Why do we do it?” Christians know the word of the Lord, in 1 John 4: In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

The story of Florence Nightingale is a call for Christian churches to continue to be active in the work of nursing care. It is also a call for Christian churches to remember how training in nursing needs good foundations.

Good nursing needs good theology.

Pastor Paul Smith, Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand

197 Archer Street, North Adelaide, South Australia 5006

+61.8.8267.7300 bishop@lca.org.au www.lca.org.au