All Creation Groans Book Release!
We are happy to say that, All Creation Groans: Toward a Theology of Disease and Global Health, edited by Daniel W. O’Neil and our very own Beth Snodderly was recently released! This book is a legacy project of WCIU's founder, Dr. Ralph D. Winter and contains contributions from Richard Gunasekera, a current board member. Our former board chair, Mike Soderling wrote the book’s Foreword. Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make this a reality!
In a suffering world reeling from global pandemics and health disparities, it is high time to think theologically about the devastating experience of disease, and to address our God-inspired responsibility to understand its origins and engage in its management. In a fragmented world, we need a unifying and integrated perspective on people in communities embedded in a fractured ecology. In an academic world blind to the spiritual world and imbalanced toward technical solutions, the global church must articulate a contemporary metanarrative that is moral, practical, and deeply transformational.
All Creation Groans brings together multiple perspectives for a compelling global-health approach to the pathologies of the world as a part of the missio Dei. The authors paint a unifying perspective on God’s healing intentions in creation, redemption, and consummation, and the opposing nature-corrupting effects of the rebellion of created moral agents. It is a fresh call for the global church to engage in aligning with God’s healing action for eternally sustainable global health.
To hear a quick synopsis of the book from on of the contributors, Greg Boyd, take a quick listen to this podcast episode! (It’s less than 4 minutes)
Dr. O'Neill is a physician-theologian who practices whole-person Family Medicine in Connecticut, USA and is Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. With a masters degree in theological and biblical studies from Bethel Seminary and formal studies in tropical medicine and public health, he has researched, written, and lectured on an applied theology of global health. He has served as interim physician at Hospital Vozandes del Oriente in Ecuador, Medical Director of Medical Ministry International, and on multiple health and development projects among impoverished and displaced populations in Latin America, West Africa, North India, and the Middle East. He is a founding board member of Health for All Nations, and the founder and Managing Editor of the scholarly Christian Journal for Global Health (cjgh.org). His is co-facilitator of the Evidence Working Group of the multi-faith Moral and Spiritual Imperative to End Extreme Poverty, convened by the World Bank.
Beth Snodderly, DLitt et Phil, of the Ralph D. Winter Research Center, is editor of William Carey International Development Journal, and past president of William Carey International University.