Author: Paul Hudson
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Listen up!
Young doctors learn an old practice!
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Love in action
In SIM we think a lot about how to integrate faith and good deeds. In our Western mindset these are often separate. One of our missionaries returned home this week and told us that in her country, Christian medical doctors put “faith” and “work” in separate categories. So it is difficult for them to imagine…
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Sustainable church hospitals
A little publication in 1998 surveyed 43 church-related mission hospitals to identify criteria for sustainability. They identified nine critical success factors in the process: Vision/mission/objectives. These hospitals had a Christ-centered vision that had been translated into ‘do-able’ mission statements and behavioral objectives to guide board and staff members at all levels in their day to…
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Community based approaches to primary health care
When I studied international and community health at Johns Hopkins in 1977, primary health care was a new emphasis. Our dean, Dr. Carl Taylor led a department full of passion about reducing illness and promoting health through primary care. But the amount of data about this approach was limited. Like many others, I found that…
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Social concern by evangelicals in the 1800s
Social concern by evangelical Christians was a high priority before 1900.
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What should characterize public health done by Christians?
Public health skills are powerful tools to promote flourishing of communities; they complement medical care of individuals. Christians also want to promote human flourishing, since this demonstrates the goodness of God. What will characterize public health done by Christians? Some of the ancients were inclined to treat disease and plagues in terms of supernatural forces…
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Why should public health be part of our Christian commitment to mission? Isn’t curative care enough?
Why should a preventive approach complement the strong medical component of medical missions?
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Why health is more than medical care
Why is health more than just medical care? Here are some reasons: Medical care tends to address matters of the body but not of the spirit. As medical professionals we are trained to diagnose, treat and manage medical conditions. We seek to apply scientific evidence to our craft. And yet health is something more than…
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A new era in Roman healthcare
We take for granted that compassion is a natural response to the suffering of those who are ill. But compassion was not well-developed as a virtue in Roman culture. Rome had not developed a culture of compassion; “mercy was discouraged, as it only helped those too weak to contribute to society.” Family members may come…
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A cheerful heart is good medicine
In medical school I learned that the death of a spouse is a risk factor for one’s death, and many times the surviving spouse dies near an anniversary of the sad event. The connection between our soul and body is closer than we can imagine. The book of Proverbs says it this way: “A cheerful…