Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights - Tapa dura

Beholden is a rich tapestry of stories deftly woven into a textured examination of religious faith and global health work. The meanings we give to charity, justice, human rights, obligations, and respect- and their material effects- come alive in threads plaited across time and place. Beholden invites us to deepen the moral integrity of global health relations; it should be read by all who care to do so. (Charlene A. Galarneau, Assistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies Department, Wellesley College)

Susan Holman gives us what we need so urgently (a recovery of the relationship between public health and public faith, between the local and the global. Beholden is a work for our time, filled with rich and experiential insights for the flourishing and healing of our world.)

Susan Holman weaves theology, history, ethics, and her own fascinating pilgrimage as a public health specialist and scholar of religion to produce a book that is a swirling, sumptuous tapestry. Not only a feast of vivid prose, Beholden is an unmatched account of why the often separate worlds of religion, health, and human rights need each other (urgently)

Global health-related efforts today are usually shaped by two very different ideological approaches. They either reflect a human rights-based approach to health and equity, often associated with public health, medicine, or economic development activities; or they express religious or humanitarian "aid," usually motivated by personal beliefs about charity, philanthropy, missional dynamics, and/or a ministry of "mercy." The underlying differences between these two approaches can create tensions and even outright hostility that affects and may even undermine the best intentions of those involved. In Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights, Susan R. Holman-a scholar in both religion and the history of medicine-challenges this stereotypical polarization through stories designed to help shape a new lens on global health, one that envisions a multidisciplinary integration of respect for religion and culture with an equal respect for and engagement with human rights and social justice. The book's six chapters range broadly, from pilgrimage texts in the Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions, to the effect of ministry and public policy on the 19th century poorhouse; the story of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as it shaped economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights; a "religious health assets" approach based in Southern Africa; and the complex dynamics of gift exchange in the modern faith-based focus on charity, community, and the common good. The book will appeal to readers interested in global health, faith-based aid, public policy, humanitarian response, liberation theology, charity, gift exchange, and a good story.