Thank you John for eloquently outlining the benefits to us all of debate and
dialogue; health is, afterall,  political -- removing political debate from
it doesn't make sense.  Without the Dennis Raphaels (who was an early mentor
of mine) and other critical thinkers on this listserve, it isn't of use of
interest to anyone.


Robb Travers, Ph.D (c)
Research Associate,
HIV/AIDS Social Research Group
KTH 208, McMaster University,
Hamilton, ON
905 977-7622

Research Affiliate,
HIV Social, Behavioural & Epidemiological Studies Unit,
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON
[log in to unmask]



----- Original Message -----
From: "Agora Group" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: December 11, 2002 8:45 AM
Subject: theologians and deal-makers


> Recent exchanges on this listserve highlight a major issue in future
action
> on social determinants of health - the balance
> between the "theologians" and the "deal-makers" in promoting action on
> social determinants.
>
> Most systems have, within them, people who are the "theologians" of the
> system - people who speak out (often bravely) for the integrity and purity
> of the system. They are often the system's most profound thinkers, often
> involved not in preserving its status quo but in "thinking it through" to
> its finest conclusions.
>
> Every system needs theologians. Without them the moral compass of the
system
> goes awry or disappears altogether. Any system is well advised to cherish
> its theologians, even when they make us uncomfortable. Much as we enrich
our
> dialogue around social determinants with evidence-based insights, at its
> core the "movement" is rightly an ethical and moral one. Every system also
> has deal-makers - folks skilled at negotiating the system's way into other
> systems, who translate good ideas into good action.  Their deal-making is
> driven at is best by a principled sense of the ideals served by the
> deal-making.
>
> But theologian and deal-maker can have damaging sides. The theologian can
> stand for such rigid ideological purity that there is no chance that their
> ideas would be put into practice. They also run the risk of acting as
grand
> inquisitors, finding and punishing heretics rather than cherishing
> diversity.  Deal-makers, on the other hand, can be dangerous if "clinching
> the deal" is all that matters. They can lose sight of why deals ought to
be
> made in the first place, and they can forget that sometimes, compromise to
> get a deal isn't worth it, because core principles would be obliterated.
>
> A healthy system needs both theologians and its deal-makers - and a group
in
> between who understand theology and deal-making.  The dialogue between
> theologians and deal-makers is essential, but uncomfortable and fractious
at
> times. And that is what I see happening through this listserve. There are
> some people on it who are deal-makers - they want to know what tools
others
> have used to clinch a deal - to embed an idea in the real, messy world.
> Hersh Sehdev put it well in a recent post when he said, "Sure a national
> strategy on social determinants would have been useful however meanwhile
we
> continue to work bottom up and see where we reach".
>
> There are also people on the listserve with a theological bent. Dennis
> Raphael, for instance, highlights what is a theological issue when he
cites
> Ontario's Heart Health programs, and the danger they pose when they stifle
> action on the underlying determinants of heart health.
>
> I am delighted that the Krimgolds, Sehdevs, Raphaels and Plasketts are
part
> of this listserve. I am one little guy in one little town, but my own
> thinking - and my own actions - have already been changed by both the
> deal-makers and the theologians on this listserve. When the listserve
ceases
> to be a rich dialogue between the messy pragmatists and the neat
idealists,
> it will
> be time for me to leave (or to write another too-long missive).
>
> John Butler
> Markham Ontario
>
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>

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