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A Black Theological Response to Race-Based Medicine: Reconciliation in Minority Communities

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Abstract

The harm race-based medicine inflicts on minority bodies through race-based experimentation and the false solutions a race-based drug ensues within minority communities provokes concern. Such areas analyze the minority patient in a physical proxy. Though the mind and body are important entities, we cannot forget about the spirit. Healing is not just a physical practice; it includes spiritual practice. Efficient medicine includes the holistic elements of the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, the spiritual discipline of black theology can be used as a tool to mend the harms of race-based medicine. It can be an avenue of research to further particular concerns for justice in medical care . Such theology contributes to the discussion of race-based medicine indicating the need for the voice, participation, and interdependence of minorities. Black theology can be used as a tool of healing and empowerment for health equity and awareness by exploring black theology’s response to race-based medicine, analyzing race in biblical literature, using biblical literature as a tool for minority patient empowerment, building on past and current black church health advocacy with personal leadership in health advocacy.

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Notes

  1. Cone (1970), 8.

  2. Sanders (2012), 78.

  3. De La Torre (2004), 26.

  4. Ibid., 25.

  5. Williams (1993), 91.

  6. West (1994), 501.

  7. Cahill (2005), 38.

  8. West (1994), 501.

  9. Sadler (2006), 390.

  10. Washington (2006), 226.

  11. Graves (2001), 25.

  12. Zack (2002), 14.

  13. Graves, The Emperor's New Clothes, 26.

  14. Livingstone (2008), 94.

  15. Story (2010), 36.

  16. Story, Imagining the Black Female Body, 37.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid., 30–31.

  19. Ibid., 95.

  20. Story, Imagining the Black Female Body, 97.

  21. Livingstone, Adam's Ancestors, 117–119.

  22. Oikkonen (2015), 748.

  23. Stoneking et al. (1987), 33.

  24. Ibid., 32.

  25. Copher (1991), 149.

  26. Copher, “The Black Presence,” 148.

  27. Ibid., 149.

  28. Cannon (1995), 121.

  29. Johnson (2004), 70.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Bailey (1991), 179–180.

  32. Weems (1988), 72.

  33. Sanders (1991), 54.

  34. Hopkins (2000), 263.

  35. The synoptic gospel of Mark is the earliest of the canonized gospels which is a personal preference of usage.

  36. Biblical literature refers to this man’s disease as leprosy. It is possible that this man had another disease. Since the pathology and diagnosis of diseases were not well known in ancient times, the word leprosy was used interchangeably to describe a condition not discovered or fully understood. To simplify, I will use the term leprosy for this man’s condition.

  37. Townes (1998), 45.

  38. Nelson (2011), 4.

  39. Ibid., 84.

  40. Nelson, Body and Soul, 84–90.

  41. Ibid., 89–90.

  42. Nelson, Body and Soul, 45.

  43. Ibid., 46–47.

  44. Quinn and Thomas (2001), 45.

  45. Ibid., 46.

  46. Nelson, Body and Soul, 30.

  47. Quinn, “The National Negro Health,” 46–47.

  48. Quinn, “The National Negro Health,” 46.

  49. Ibid., 47.

  50. Smith (1995), 53.

  51. Ibid., 63.

  52. Peterson and Yancy (2009), 1172.

  53. Pinn (2002), 96.

  54. Agate et al. (2005): 615.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Pinn, The Black Church, 100.

  57. Ibid., 96.

  58. Ibid., 97.

  59. Pinn, The Black Church, 97.

  60. DMin (2012), 36.

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  1. Department of Medical Humanities, Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA

    Kirk A. Johnson

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  1. Kirk A. Johnson
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Correspondence to Kirk A. Johnson.

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Johnson, K.A. A Black Theological Response to Race-Based Medicine: Reconciliation in Minority Communities. J Relig Health 56, 1096–1110 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0373-5

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