First, I want to acknowledge the nobility of this book’s purpose. HIV is a dehumanizing condition that only worsens with stigma. Today, both women and orphans are disproportionately affected, and both groups have traditionally been objects of the church’s compassion. However, such a compassionate orientation hasn’t been the case with HIV; instead, stigma reigns, especially in countries hardest hit by the epidemic. This book represents a direct call for the church to instead reclaim its identity as a welcoming refuge. It asks the church to follow the example of Jesus Christ who socially suffered for not stigmatizing the ill.
Those noble ideals, however, were incompletely pulled off in the book. Too many chapters dived into theology – typically written by male theologians in the West – instead of conveying the practical theology of individual stories. I agree that theology-centered motives should be a concern, but the book became repetitive by recasting the same Biblical points without human context.
I wish this book featured women’s voices more prominently. Women wrote my favorite chapters. Their personal relationship with the topic made their perspectives more powerful. Perhaps patriarchy played too prominent a role in organizing this book. I didn’t want to hear male authority figures say, over and over, how it’s ok to be compassionate to those with HIV. I wanted this book, by showing more and telling less, to move me to compassion by hearing God working in the ostracized and stigmatized.
This book concludes with a (very good) theological statement by a group of pastors in central Africa. Let’s hope their intentions continue to be borne out in practice. Let’s also hope that today’s western churches don’t just preach theological justifications for Christian compassion but actually act out of that vein. I’m concerned that in the years after this book, American churches have become less of a place of refuge. That noble ideal needs to be heard more widely, and this book gives some platform for voices calling for just that.
Women, HIV, and the Church: In Search of Refuge
Edited by Arthur J. Ammann
Copyright (c) 2012
Cascade Books
ISBN13 9781620322789
Page Count: 180
Genre: HIV/AIDS
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