Wasting Time with the World’s Poor: Theological and Scriptural Foundations for Paul Farmer’s Praxis of Accompaniment

Abstract

In celebrating Paul Farmer’s many contributions to global health care, his praxis of accompaniment—sharing in the everyday experience of those he treated—is often overlooked. While Farmer saw hours spent in the company of the poor as key to pragmatic solidarity, conventional medical wisdom views unguarded closeness to patients as ill-advised, a waste of time. Farmer’s praxis is examined through the author’s own experience as a physician, then through the words of Paul Farmer, David Hilfiker, Gustavo Gutierrez, Roberto Goizueta, and Emmanuel Levinas, and finally through relevant passages from scripture. Drawing on the work of John Swinton, opposing views of Farmer’s praxis are seen as arising from irreconcilable ways of experiencing time: as a scarce resource to be used as efficiently as possible or as God’s gift to be given away. Farmer is presented as a doer of the word (James 1:22) whose insights on the proper use of time might inform health care professionals, theologians, and the Church.