Slide 2 – Missionary Medicine
“Missionary medicine can be seen as a combination of one’s belief in the power of biomedicine along with medical care being provided by those ‘called by God’, who served as mere servants of the Great Healer of souls, (i.e. God).” - Sterling Pg. 55
Slide 3 - Medical Missionaries (1)
In the latter part of the 19th Century missionaries in East and Central Africa set up of rural hospitals and rural clinics, which saved many lives because of immunization and reducing infant mortality. They also “trained African medical personnel, who introduced ‘Western’ midwifery and child care practices, and who dealt with Chronic and endemic disease”.
Slide 4 Medical Missionaries (2)
The Biblical scripture “Let your light so shine
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Missionaries saw themselves as saviors to the poor as evidenced their representation of a Lighter Bear for the world.
Slide 6 – The Role of Medical Missionaries (1)
Missionaries were not a ‘uniformed group’ with respect to ideas and opinions and as such their motives and agenda cannot be generalized.
While initially much of the literature tended to make Missionaries appear to be heroic, saint like characters.
According to Colby and Bennet (1995) missionaries came in on the cultural, social and political side of the conqueror just as the soldier colonist was a military conqueror. However their weapons were that of mass mental
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Because more African Healers moved to the cities they lost access to the rural areas however this presented an opportunity for the commercial trade of umuthi “traditional herbs”. The increased trade allowed African Healers to expand their services.
White doctors initially seemed to respect the work of African healers, and some sought their assistance. However in the twentieth century, biomedical doctors grew increasingly skeptical of such healers and their abilities and began to claim that African healers were 'unscientific' and 'ineffective'.
The change was largely due to the development of competition between indigenous healers and biomedical doctors, and the professionalization of biomedicine in Europe and the colonies. Especially as White doctors began to lose their traditional client base to African Healers. African ‘doctors’ were open to learning from Western Medicine and how they can learn new methods. However, biomedicine sought to eliminate the African healers in order to restrict authority to Whites.
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pp. 41-84. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, Calif. Pigg, Stacy Leigh. (1997) "Found in Most Traditional Societies: Traditional Medical Practitioners between Culture and Development.”
They take it upon themselves to change the religion or make it civilised', not respecting the fact that maybe the villagers were already content with what they had. & nbsp; Missionaries believe in one supreme god. This god is the creator of all the world and all the men and women who inhabit the Earth. They believe that all men go for judgement before him when they die, and that all men who worship false gods of wood and stone' would be thrown into a fire that burned like palm oil.'
During the preindustrial era medical practice was disorderly where there was no such a thing as profession, it was all just a trade. The medical procedures were very primitive, missing institutional core where no institutions were completely devoted to patient care and people mostly relied on their selves due to unstable demand. There was no medical education, even the college graduates had no scientific training. However, overtime scientific medicine and technology has influenced medical education, allowing medical services to be delivered in other settings rather
Large-scale education and social consciousness may not be enough, though; even when the government becomes involved and offers a scholarship for Babamukuru and Maiguru to pursue higher education in South Africa, the missionaries feel a sense of entitlement to the natives’ bodies and minds and later coerce this same pair to continue their education in England. This lends itself to a description of “missionary goodwill as a form of benevolent tyranny” that works to alienate individual natives from others and prevent them from taking any sort of united stand (Paustian
Illness was treated in many ways but the main goal was to achieve a sense of balance and harmony.(p82). Applications of herbs and roots, spiritual intervention, and community wide ritual and ceremonies were all therapeutic practices.(p71). “It was the healer who held the keys to the supernatural and natural worlds and who interpreted signs, diagnosed disease and provided medicines from the grassland, woodland, and parkland pharmacopoeia.”(p18). The healers knowledge of herbs and roots and ways to administer and diagnose had been passed down from generation to generation.(p85). Healers stood as an advantage for the Aboriginal people. “Trust and a personal relationships would naturally build between the patient and the healer.”(p77). This must have ...
...to convert people to Christianity. While some of the methods were different, most of the underlying factors of Proselytism such as language and knowledge were emphasized which made Christianity more appealing and accessible to the culturally and ethnically diverse population of Asia.
In fact, Native American medicine men belief is firmly grounded in age-old traditions, legends and teachings. Healing and medical powers have existed since the very beginning of time according to Native American stories. Consequently they have handed down the tribe's antediluvian legends, which i...
Although, I had the completely wrong view. I learned that a person is a person regardless of a person's social status or by what they do or don't have. I also realized that even though a mission trip is meant to help those in need, I needed missionaries myself. I realize that even though we help the kids at the Ruidoso orphanage, I feel like they helped me shape who I am as a person in a dramatic way. Whether it was by feeding us lunch to playing a game of soccer with us, they positively affected my life in a huge mental way.
...ing the future of a disease process, physicians gathered confidence and trust from their patients and were elevated in status above traditional healers.
that Luke was a doctor, and that he and Paul were called by God to preach the gospel, it is evident that Luke was a medical missionary. ...
Nnolim, Charles E. "The Missionaries." Approaches To the African People: Essays in Analysis. London: Saros International, 1992.
Missionaries were a contradiction, one that is not easily sorted. The goals and objectives of the missionary themselves were often purest of heart. Missionaries’ goals were to spread of the gospel, the convert heathens to Christianity and enrich the communities they work in by providing education and medical assistance. On the contrary missionaries were also often “agents of cultural change.” (Stipe p.1) They carried with them American ideals, democracy, individual rights, free enterprise, universal education, and delayed gratification. (Clifford Putney p.7)
In healthcare organizations, medical staff must conform to their hospital and their country’s code of conduct. Not only do they have to meet set standards, they must also take their patient into consideration. When making a decision upon a patient, medical staff must recognize religious backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. By understanding a patients’ beliefs and their belief system, a medical worker can give the patient their deserved medical assistance without overstepping boundaries or coming off as offensive. The practices and beliefs of four religions will be articulated throughout this essay to fully understand how religion can either help or hinder the healing process.
Flint, Karen E. Healing Traditions: African Medicine, Cultural Exchange, and Competition in South Africa, 1820-1948.
According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the world 's largest plant conservation network, the primary form of health care for five billion people is traditional plant-based medicine (Hawkins, 2006, p. 3). This population is mainly concentrated in the developing world. In Africa, 80% of the population relies primarily on traditional medicine, because allopathic healthcare systems are out of reach, both through distance and cost (Elujoba, 2005, para. 4). Anthony Elujoba, a professor of Pharmacognosy at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, argues that an “[e]ffective health agenda for the African continent can never be achieved by orthodox medicine alone unless it is complemented by traditional medicine practice” (para. 4). Institutionalizing traditional medicine would provide more funding for doctors who practice traditional medicine, allowing them to improve facilities and treatment. Countries that do not have access to mainstream health care must integrate traditional medicine into healthcare systems to provide support for the industry, while continuing to make mainstream healthcare a