EDITORIAL    

              
  

Nov 2014. Christian Journal for Global Health, 1(2):1.  

Christian Impact in Global Health 

 

The editors are pleased to publish issue two 

of the Christian Journal for Global Health.  This 

second issue features three original articles, a case 

study, two reviews on the relationship between 

Christians and secular public health, two commen-

taries on theology and health, two conference re-

ports, a book review, an invited editorial by Johns 

Hopkins Emeritus Professor Henry Mosley, and a 

new feature described in more detail in a separate 

editorial.  We are pleased about the flow of articles 

being submitted for publication in the journal and 

hope that the two new calls for papers, one on 

health care in conflict circumstances and the se-

cond on disability and rehabilitation, will stimulate 

additional contributions in these fields.   

Original articles examine the relationship 

between knowledge of diabetes and action to con-

trol it in Jamaica, the potential of a Christian 

mindset to influence community health workers in 

providing cost-effective maternal health services 

in rural Kenya, and the effectiveness of mobile 

surgical services both in providing surgical care 

and in enabling the entry of Christian gospel wit-

ness in rural areas of India.  We publish a case 

study describing the use of “clustering” to amplify 

and synchronize community health development 

in Kenya.  There are two reviews which address 

the intersection of the Christian church with secu-

lar public health agencies on the one hand and the 

United States government on the other.  Clydette 

Powell reviews the history of engagement between 

the United States Agency for International Devel-

opment and faith-based organizations.  Professor 

Matthew Bersagel Braley takes somewhat wider 

aim, examining whether the engagement between 

the church and public health authorities serves on-

ly the agenda of the secular authority or whether 

the church might itself speak authoritatively and 

effectively to those authorities concerning a deeper 

definition of the whole person and a broader 

meaning for health.  This issue contains two com-

mentaries on the role of Christians in global 

health, one theological piece on what it means to 

fully care for the afflicted person and the other 

offering a framework for scholarship, research and 

innovation by Christians.  We commend the ac-

companying editorial on the reports from the field 

feature, with its invitation to reflect on the chal-

lenges, conflicts and conundrums arising from the 

everyday work of a medical missionary.  One of 

the reports offers a window on the West African 

Ebola outbreak from the standpoint of a Nigerian 

physician who contracted the virus and her strug-

gle to survive.  A book review by Huw Morgan 

critiques a book that scrutinized religious percep-

tions of organizations which are involved in de-

velopment.  Finally, there are reports from two 

major conferences involving Christians in global 

health, one the annual conference of Christian 

Connections for International Health held in Vir-

ginia in June and the other, the 2014 World Con-

gress of the International Christian Medical and 

Dental Associations held in the Netherlands.  The 

editors are willing regularly to publish news and 

accounts of such events as contributing to effec-

tive understanding and communication between 

Christians in global health.   

In our view this issue continues to affirm the 

viability and the need for a distinctly Christian 

perspective on global health.  There is an historical 

precedent in the vast legacy of Christian responses 

to disease and poverty, and there is rational justifi-

cation to address the existing hollowness of empir-

ical approaches lacking a theological foundation.  

So, gentle reader, we invite you to read on and 

engage in the conversation. 

 

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