Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers an interdisciplinary effort to address global health issues grounded on a human rights framework seen from the perspective of those who are more vulnerable to be sick and die prematurely: the poor. Combining his scholarship and service in impoverished communities, the author examines the connection between poverty and health inequalities from an ethical perspective that considers contributions from different disciplines and the voices of the poor.
Trade ReviewThis book is a multifaceted and interdisciplinary approach to healthcare from a liberation perspective that “engages with the poor, listens to them, learns from them and begins a dialogical process of empowering the poor.” Martins grounds the right to health care for all in an anthropology of suffering and a liberation ethic that serves as a foundation for a community-based approach of delivering health care in a just way to all people. He challenges all people to join the poor in a dialectical process of mutual learning. Only then will health care ever be realized as a basic human right. The agenda he sets is at the same time ambitious and optimistic, yet realistic and self-critical. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand health care as a basic human right. -- Peter A. Clark, John McShain Chair in Ethics, Director-Institute of Clinical Bioethics, Saint Joseph’s University
With this book, Alexandre Martins changes the landscape of 21st century theological ethics. Martins interweaves the rigorous philosophy of Simone Weil, an impressive theoretical analysis of liberation theology, and empirical/ethnographic engagement with actual poor people to forward an important new mixed-methodology theoretical/theological framework for addressing the challenges posed by the material suffering of the world’s poor. Yet it is also a beautiful book—infused with a spirituality formed by Martins’ long and deep accompaniment with the people of and with whom he speaks. Most importantly, it levies a powerful critique to the academy and US theologians who have turned liberation theology into an academic theory, largely disconnected from actual poor people. As such, anyone interested in liberation theology, liberation ethics, global health, or Catholic social thought going forward will need to grapple with Martins’ The Cry of the Poor. -- M. Therese Lysaught, Loyola University Chicago
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: A Liberating Approach to Health Care………………… Prolegomenon of a Project: Hermeneutical and Methodological Lines………………. Part I Human Contingency: Anthropology of Suffering…………………………………. 1 The Unfortunate Being in Simone Weil……… 2 Rootedness, Suffering, And Compassion: Malheur And Incarnation………. 3 The Liberation Approach to Suffering: Simone Weil and Liberation Theology………… 4 The Preferential Option for the Poor as an Existential Commitment…………. 5 Emptying and the Preferential Option for the Poor: Mysticism and Social Implications… Conclusion Part I………… Part II Suffering and Inequalities in Health………………. 6 Liberation Ethics: Inclusion from Below………….. 7 The Suffering of the Poor and Their Vulnerability: Voices from Below………. 8 Structural Violence Beyond Numbers: Learning from the Hermeneutical Lens of The Poor…. 9 Structural Violence and Social Determinants of Health: The Vulnerability of the Poor… Conclusion Part II………. Part III Anthropology of Suffering and Liberation Ethics: Bases for Health Care as a Human Right….. 10 Global Health and Human Rights Framework from Below: Theological and Anthropological Perspectives….. 11 Popular Education and Public Health: A Community-Based Approach for Health Care Advocacy…….. Conclusion Part III……. Suffering – Health – Hope…… Bibliography….. About the Author…..
