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Keep the Promise: HIV and AIDS Campaign

09/12/2009

"Every church leader, pastor, preacher, theologian, should take the first step towards joining A Global Theological Conversation by reading this groundbreaking new volume on HIV prevention. Then take the second step…begin your own theological reflection and engage others in the discourse of life."

(Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

HIV transmission is preventable. HIV and AIDS are treatable. And yet for every two people starting on antiretroviral treatments, five more become infected. Faith groups, which are close to the lives of communities and their members, should be ideally placed to engage with issues of HIV prevention. Too often, though, the prevention messages coming from organized religion have been ambivalent, moralistic, stigmatizing, or divorced from the realities of people’s lives. What is it about HIV prevention that causes some Christians to spend more time disagreeing with each other than developing sensible, achievable responses? And what can we do about it?

Wide-ranging, open and accessible, this landmark publication addresses those questions head-on. It is the work of thirty-five Christian theologians, from different churches and theological traditions, who have struggled together to achieve a common understanding of the moral, theological and ecclesiological challenges of HIV prevention. Their deliberations and insights have been brought together by the editor, Dr Gillian Paterson, in the profound and insightful reflections which form the subject-matter of Part One.

But ‘agreeing common ground’ does not mean abandoning deeply held convictions. Part Two therefore consists of a series of powerful, often passionate essays by individuals from this group, all internationally known theologians or practitioners, who set out their own distinctive and challenging positions. They include:

Dr. Margaret A Farley, Gilbert L Starck Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics at Yale University Divinity School
Rev. Johannes Petrus Heath, co-founder of ANERELA+, the African Network of Religious Leaders living with or personally affected by HIV or AIDS
Dr. Peter Okaalet, Senior Director for Health and HIV/AIDS Policy at MAP International
Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, initiator of ANERELA+ and Goodwill Ambassador for Sudan, Eastern Africa and the Horn with Christian Aid, UK
Dr. Adrian Thatcher, Research Professor in Applied Theology at the University of Exeter, UK
Professor Robin Gill, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology at the University of Kent, UK
Rev. Lisandro Orlov, Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Lutheran World Federation Plan of Action on HIV and AIDS and Coordinator of the Ecumenical Pastoral Work on HIV and AIDS in Buenos Aires, Argentina