Global Christian healthcare missions, European colonialism, and the demand to decolonize medicine
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- Note: While there existed a few mission stations of Catholic orders in India before (see Ballhatchet K. The East India Company and Roman Catholic Missionaries. J Ecclesiast History. 1993;44(2):273-88. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900015852), it was only after Parliament ordered the British East India Company in the Charter Act of 1813 that explicit missionary activities in India became possible; see Carson P. The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press; 2012.
- Note: Like Bartholomae de las Casas (1474/84-1566) in Mexico (see Friede J, Keen B, editors. Bartolomé de las Casas in History: Toward an Understanding of the Man and his Work. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press; 1971); Charles F. Andrews (1871-1940) in India (see Hoyland JS. C. F. Andrews: minister of reconciliation. London: Allenson; 1940); John Mackenzie (1835-1899) in South Africa (see Mackenzie WD. John Mackenzie: South African Missionary and Statesman. London: Hodder and Stoughton; 1902).
- Note: As did William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and the ‘Committee for the abolition of the slave trade’ formed in 1787, see Wilberforce W. A Letter on the Abolition of the slave trade, addressed to the freeholders of Yorkshire. London: Luke Hansard & Sons; 1807 and Brown CL, Moral Capital: Foundations of British abolitionism. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press; 2006.
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- Note: For a survey of these development see Bynum W. The history of medicine: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008. For a more detailed presentation see the individual volumes in Cunningham A, Grell OP, editors. The medicine in context series. Boca Raton, FL: Routledge; since 2015.
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- Note: For exact figures see Grundmann CH. Sent to heal! Emergence and development of medical missions. Lanham, MD: University Press of America; 2005, p. 159.
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- Grundmann CH. Sent to heal! Emergence and development of medical missions. Lanham, MD: University Press of America; 2005, p. 150.
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- Note: The Shaker community presents an example of a vanishing culture. See There are only two Shakers left. They’ve still got utopia in their sights. In: The New York Times. 2024 Sept 13. See also Whitson RE, editor. The Shakers: two centuries of spiritual reflection. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press; 1983.
- Note: For a pointed illustration of this aspect see Downing R. Global Health Means Listening. Nairobi: Manqua Books; 2018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15566/cjgh.v12i1.371 | Journal eISSN: 2167-2415
Language: English
Page range: 10 - 23
Submitted on: Oct 10, 2024
Accepted on: Dec 7, 2024
Published on: Mar 19, 2025
Published by: Global Health Institute at William Carey International University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2025 Christoffer Grundmann, published by Global Health Institute at William Carey International University
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