Health, Healing, and Shalom
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Health, Healing, and Shalom
Frontiers and Challenges for Christian Healthcare Missions
Bryant L. Myers, Erin Dufault-Hunter, Isaac B. Voss, editors
Ever since Jesus’s proclamation in word and deed as the Great Physician, his followers in mission have assumed that salvation and health are intertwined. Yet for every age, Christians need to examine how they can best announce the gospel message of God’s healing in word and deed in their own context. In our era, we are often simultaneously grateful for modern medicine and frustrated by its inability to care for the whole person in effective, affordable ways.
In this edited volume, authors with an interest in health missions from a wide variety of experiences and disciplines examine health and healing through the theological lens of shalom. This word, often translated “peace,” names a much more complex understanding of human well-being as right relationships with one another, with God, and with creation. Reading various aspects of healthcare missions through these glasses not only yields much-needed correctives to current practice but also exposes the Spirit’s invitation to participate in God’s ongoing work of tending, caring, and healing our broken world.
Endorsements
Over the past decade we have seen a consistent increase in the number of next generation medical disciples. One of the challenges we face with equipping this next generation is the need for a well-written practical theology for healthcare missions. Given the recent dramatic changes in the healthcare landscape, the growing interest among Christian medical students and residents for this type of work, and the lack of published resources, we have been eagerly awaiting the release of Health, Healing, and Shalom.
Steve NoblettOver the last century, healthcare professionals focused on technology and spiritual leaders concerned with church-building have alike often lost sight of shalom, the core of both physical and spiritual health. Various authors have wrestled with the interface between the good news, the church, health, and healing, but nowhere have I seen that done to the depth and breadth of this work. The authors have selected for discussion both foundational aspects of that topic and practical aspects rarely discussed but having great effect on millions of people in the church or treated by Christian health professionals. And they have picked the right persons to write each chapter—either world-class experts or experienced frontline practitioners with deeply biblical perspectives. Each chapter has fresh and challenging insights—the neglect of which has given rise all over the world to unnecessary suffering, ineffective helpers, wasteful systEMS, and distortion of the good news. This book should be required reading for all pastors and missions leaders and for all health professionals who want to serve God with their lives.
Carolyn Klaus, MDHealth, Healing, and Shalom is a must-read for healthcare ministers in training and practice. In working with medical students/graduates, urban health professionals, and congregational partners, this is a much needed manual in answering key questions and providing equipping tools for the church to “preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick” (Luke 9:2). Praise the Lord for this enlightening perspective and powerful movement to integrate faith and health!
C. Channing Frykman, MD, FAAPA feast for those engaged in or considering involvement with health related missions awaits readers in the pages of Health, Healing, and Shalom. Those of us who knew, loved, and were inspired by the life of Dr. Dan Fountain find in the diverse chapters multiple treasures of careful reflection on the issues that have filled our conversations for so many years: the social, economic, and spiritual causes of disease; the value of community-based primary health care; and a probing of the theological foundations for our work. But we are also pressed forward to engage contemporary health concerns, from noncommunicable diseases such as rampant obesity to choosing roles as neighbors with the underserved urban poor. Troubling, enlightening, and motivating, this book is an important stimulus to reflection and assessment for Christians in health fields and beyond.
Evvy Hay Campbell, BSN, MS, CTCM&H (LSTM), PhDHealth, Healing, and Shalom provides a comprehensive and compelling resource for healthcare workers and professionals involved in mission work. The book covers an array of complex health, relational, and social issues typically encountered in working with vulnerable populations globally. Most significantly, a Christian theoretical framework is provided that reinforces the power of God’s desire to heal the body, spirit, and emotions of both the healthcare worker and the sick in union with God’s ultimate restoration of shalom.
Mary Wickman, RN, PhDI think this book would be a great resource for community health programs at Christian higher education institutions, health science majors of all types, community development courses, and those leading and guiding the many thousands of health-related short-term mission trips. Several times I have searched for resources for the faculty sponsors of Taylor’s health-related mission projects and been disappointed. This would provide a helpful framework out of which to build such programs and projects
Jenny Collins, MAR
Additional Details
- Pages: 326
- Publisher: William Carey Publishing
- Binding: Paperback
- Publish Year: 2018
- ISBN: 9780878085408
- Vendor: William Carey Library
