An Easter Story: Theology & Immunology--thoughts
Today is Easter, the keystone of the Christian religion, and I'm reflecting on some common similarities between theological thought and immunological thought. One of my principal jobs as an alllergist is to help a patient develop TOLERANCE to something (an allergen) that should normally be TOLERATED--but is not. In its simplest form, the allergic patient develops an INFLAMMATORY response to a common environmental agent (food, pollen, mold etc.) that in itself, is not harmful. The problem, in essence, is when the immune system "sees" the harmless item as "harmful"--and overreacts. In its simplest form, the religious credo of "love one another as you love yourself" is the spiritual equivalent of developing immunological tolerance--i.e., to not to react in an "inflammatory" fashion to common daily "exposures" to environmental stressors. In some respect, the spiritual concept of accepting another person or a new idea is somewhat like the healthy immune system readily accepting a new antigenic exposure...
George F Kroker MD FACAAI
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