Paul Tournier

Paul Tournier (12 May 1898 – 7 October 1986) was a Swiss physician and author who had acquired a worldwide audience for his work in pastoral counseling.

His ideas had a significant impact on the spiritual and psychosocial aspects of routine patient care,[1] and he has been called the twentieth century's most famous Christian physician.

In 1925 Tournier opened a private practice in Geneva and started operating as general medical practitioner.

Tournier became increasingly interested in Calvinism and the Reformed faith, and was heavily involved in civic and medical groups.

The Healing of Persons), which was dedicated to Frank Buchman, the founder of the Oxford Group, wherein he advocates that man is more than just body and a mind, he is also a spiritual being.

[8] After the success of Médecine de la Personne he became a prolific writer of books dealing with the subject.

Although he did not have any formal training in psychiatry or theology, his writing has influenced a generation of medical and religious professionals the world over.

[9] Psychosomatic medicine was still in its infancy, and Tournier observed that the contemporary approach to illness was purely organic and failed to consider the patient as a whole.

Both the organic and the psychological approach are integral parts of Medicine of the Person, as is consideration of the connection between state of health, life events, social insertion and spirituality.

[7] Throughout his career Tournier was known for his presence, gentle personality and sincere demeanor, and his ability to communicate across language barriers.

As he grew up he became active in the church, started writing articles about Calvinism, and argued for orthodoxy and against liberalism.

The same thing happens with all these people who come to see me, and take so much trouble over their efforts to describe themselves to me with strict accuracy; inevitably I form an image of them which derives as much from myself as from them.

In response to a letter from a graduate student writing a master's thesis on his theology, Tournier wrote:

This is what I understand Saint Paul to say when he mentions that sin has entered the world through one man, Adam, and spread to all men, and that he calls Jesus the second Adam through Whom redemption entered the world for all men, and even as he says 'all of creation,' that the redemption of Christ is the victory of God over the Fall.