Academic and medical institutions are responding to rising critiques of mainstream, scientific medicine (biomedicine). One response is the establishment of centers and programs devoted to whole person care. I assess the response of the McGill Programs in Whole Person Care (WPC) to these critiques, particularly its incorporation of spirituality into medicine. Through textual hermeneutics, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with faculty members, I argue that WPC is constructing its own worldview and normative framework. It does this by selectively drawing from the religious traditions of ancient Greece, Buddhism, and Christianity, interpreting these selections in terms of Jungian psychology, and sometimes secularizing them. My aim is to better understand the theory and praxis of whole person care in McGill University's Faculty of Medicine as a case study but also the ethical issues it raises. I conclude by providing points of reflection for institutions wishing to incorporate these health ideas and practices into conventional medicine.
