Surgeon as Priest Essay

In the “Surgeon as Priest,” Richard Selzer dives into the religious and scientific aspects of being a surgeon. He explores and divides the certain aspects of “healing” into five parts, each section demonstrating the different perspectives on healing (spiritually & scientifically) that eventually builds the metaphorical bridge between surgeon and priest. With the use of figurative language and other rhetorical devises, he connects each section of his essay to show his transformation from a scientific healer to a spiritual healer.
In the first section the use of hyperbole reveals the holy responsibilities a surgeon can have on its people, as a priest might have on his congregates. Selzer compares himself to a “hierophant,” a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy; and in this case he is bringing along the reader to his sanctuary of science. He shows the spiritual responsibilities he has towards the healing of the human body to what a priest might have on his people: that special power to heal/ cure with powers sent from a divine source. Of course this is an exaggeration because he compares himself to a higher being who must do “magic” to ward of the mysteries he “trespass[ed]” on; but nevertheless, the hyperbole reveals the correlation of the sanctity that is within a priest to the sacredness that thrives in Selzer. Moreover, it is this holiness that Selzer sees within his (scientific) profession that ennobles and enables him to tie religion and science together. Secondly, Selzer uses crude diction along with an anecdote to reveal the similarity between religious (holy) healing and surgical healing that challenges him to comprehend spiritual healing. His first use of crude diction is appreciated as he details the cancer of Joe Riker, describing it as a “mucky puddle whose meaty heaped edge rose above” and also “the chewed dura-mater [that] laid bare this short-order cooks brain.” The use of crude