Recorded on 19 June 2025 for ICMDA Webinars.
Dr Peter Saunders chairs a webinar with Prof Christoffer Grundmann
This webinar sketches the history of Christian medical missions from Jesus’ healing ministry to present day Christian medical services. First it will touch upon the beginnings of institutional care for the sick in the 4th century up until the middle of the 19th century, a time when not much could be done except providing compassionate care.
The second section will focus on the emergence of Christian medical missions as an epiphenomenon of the development of scientific medicine in the 19th century, while the third addresses the transformations of such work necessitated by changes in the overall framework during the 20th century, showing that such ministry represents a vital element in the proclamation of the gospel since it witnesses to the corporeality of salvation in Christ.
Christoffer-Hinrich Grundmann, (MTh, Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil.) is Emeritus Eckrich University Professor in Religion and the Healing Arts of Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, USA. Before he worked as Lutheran Pastor in Caracas, Venezuela, taught at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary Arasaradi, Madurai, India, after which he joined the German Institute for Medical Missions at Tübingen, Germany, as theological consultant and hospital chaplain and briefly at the center for healthcare ethics at Hannover, Germany. Sent to heal! Emergence and Development of Medical Mission (2005) is one of the several books he authored besides numerous articles on topics of medical missions, health and healing, and on inter-religious dialogue. (https://faculty.valpo.edu/cgrundma).To listen live to future ICMDA webinars visit https://icmda.net/resources/webinars/