Publishers that take on social issues from a religious perspective are concerned with the body as well as the soul. Many see healthcare as a moral issue— whether pushing for just and inclusive healthcare policies or battling the stigmas that are still faced by people with mental health concerns or disabilities. They also see physicians and families wrestling with challenging questions of medical ethics, patients, and societal rights that affect how people live and how—even when—they die. A sampling of titles includes:
“Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Health with Children and Teens by Rev. Sarah Griffith Lund (Chalice, Apr.). Lund, an author of two books on mental illness, is part of the United Church of Christ’s National staff as the minister for disabilities and mental health justice. Chalice publisher Brad Lyons points out, “There are so many potential choices that lead to places that instill fear, prejudice, bigotry, and misogyny, or that can inflict physical, mental, and emotional injury. We can’t just sit on the couch and expect that our kids will turn out like we hope they will!”
Care: How People of Faith Can Respond to Our Broken Health System (Eerdmans, Oct.) by G. Scott Morris. He’s a pastor and CEO of Church Health, a healthcare center that challenges the barriers to healthcare for poor or undocumented people. Senior acquisitions editor Andrew Knapp says Morris offers a model “for those who do not want to passively wait for the system to change but want to follow the call to minister to the sick now.”
Christianity and Modern Medicine: Foundations for Bioethics (Kregel, May) by two bioethicists, Mark Wesley Foreman and Lindsay C. Leonard. Much of this field has been dominated by bioethics experts presenting principles from a secular perspective. These authors offer decision-making frameworks based on a Biblical worldview. Publisher Catherine DeVries says the book is both for medical professionals and "any Christian interested in steering more clearly through the moral fog in medical practice today.”
More of You: The Fat Girl’s Field Guide to the Modern World (Broadleaf, May) by a self-described "fat activist" Amanda Martinez Beck, rallies readers to remember that fat is not a moral failing, to accept themselves, and to insist on dignified treatment and acceptance in medical care and in society. Acquisitions editor Lisa Kloskin describes it as an honest look "at the harm religion can cause” and a call to advocate for equality and justice in healthcare for every size.
My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church (Brazos, May) is by Amy Kenny, a scholar who is disabled. She writes a plea for opening church spaces to engage and value every member. Editorial director Katelyn Beaty sees Kenny’s book as a “countercultural word of belonging—going beyond inclusion to asking people with disabilities to lead and shape the church into the future.”
