Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor by Jennie Weiss Block

Abstract

Reviewed by: Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor by Jennie Weiss Block Meghan J. Clark Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor. By Jennie Weiss Block . Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018. 200 pp. $14.95. Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor . By Jennie Weiss Block. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018. 200 pp. $14.95. From Tracey Kidder's bestselling Mountains beyond Mountains to interviews on CBS Sunday morning, many already feel like they know Dr. Paul Farmer, the man who would heal the world. A radical commitment that those living in poverty are entitled to the same high-quality healthcare as the privileged animates Partners in Health, as well as Farmer's own scholarship and activism. In Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor, Jennie Weiss Block skillfully and seamlessly weaves together Farmer's personal and professional development with a focus on his rugged, compassionate, intense, and action-oriented spirituality. Beginning with an unconventional upbringing, in which the Farmer family lived on a bus and a boat, Block weaves together Farmer's personal and professional growth while highlighting the influence of [End Page 87] spiritual mentors from Sister Julianna working with Haitian migrant workers in North Carolina to Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of liberation theology. Block narrates Farmer's spiritual journey marked by grace, mercy, and animated by the preferential option for the poor. Pathogens make a preferential option for the poor, therefore shouldn't doctors do so? This simple question is coyly named the epidemiological insight, a doctor's interpretation of the preferential option for the poor etched deeply into Dr. Paul Farmer's soul. It is a story of unwavering hope and imagination. Whether in Boston, Haiti, Rwanda, or Sierra Leone, Farmer's challenging gift is an inability to accept the limits of the status quo in which millions simply do not have access to good quality medical care. As Block begins, "Once in a great while, you meet someone who makes you believe that it is possible to build up the kingdom of God in the here and now. For me and many others, Dr. Paul Farmer is such a person" (1). Like Block, I have long been inspired by Paul Farmer. Pathologies of Power : Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor is a book that significantly influenced my development as a moral theologian. As I read the book, I found myself imagining what might have been had Paul accepted the nomination to lead USAID under President Obama. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested not only in the work of Dr. Farmer but also those committed to global health, human rights, and a lived spirituality of accompaniment. It is a book that would be excellent for undergraduates or book clubs seeking to think more deeply about hope and imagination in the pursuit of justice. Meghan J. Clark St. John's University Copyright © 2020 American Catholic Historical Society