Care: How People of Faith Can Respond to Our Broken Health System

This potent treatise by physician Morris (If Your Heart Is Like My Heart) explores how Christians can serve the health needs of their communities. Contending that physical and spiritual well-being are inextricably connected, Morris argues that “Jesus’s call to discipleship clearly requires his followers to be fully engaged in ministries of healing the whole lives, body and spirit, of those we serve.” He details his work for Church Health, the Christian nonprofit clinic he founded in 1987 to serve marginalized communities and the uninsured in Memphis, Tenn. Client stories illustrate the shortcomings of America’s healthcare system, as when Morris recounts a woman who was unable to afford drugs for diabetes and lupus despite working two jobs. He discusses how the system fails undocumented people, noting that they are ineligible for federal assistance programs and relating the story of two cousins who sustained injuries crossing the Mexico border into the U.S. but could not take time to recover because of tight financial circumstances. Though the author’s silence on debates around “Medicare for All” and similar proposals is conspicuous, his survey of the diverse, vital, and often invisible roles church-based groups play in serving economically disadvantaged populations is sure to stimulate. This is a powerful indictment of America’s profit-obsessed, red-tape-riddled healthcare industry. (Nov.)