Health and human flourishing is an excellent starting point for reflection on the relationship between religious commitment and nursing practice. In times of prevalent external pressures defining what good or professional care is, there is reason to return to internal sources providing personal and professional focus in nursing practice. Some nursing literature exists utilizing, in different ways, the concept of flourishing (see for instance Bishop and Scudder 1990). Most often it figures as patient outcome (or health) or as nurses’ job satisfaction (or fulfillment). When not taken in its Aristotelian but in its biblical form, shalom, flourishing offers a comprehensive perspective on professional nursing practice (see for instance Shelly and Miller 2006). In this plenary address I would like present a view on the place of caring in human existence and the corresponding place of flourishing in a Christian perspective on professional care. The bearing of shalom on professional qualities, on professional conduct, and on professional outcomes suggests an account of nurse’s professional responsibility and thus a Christian stance on virtues, norms and values in nursing ethics. Where this stance defines what good or professional care is over against external pressures on nurses the notion of flourishing or shalom may even offer some practical guidance.