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Medicine And Books

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

BMJ 1996; 312 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.312.7022.64a (Published 06 January 1996) Cite this as: BMJ 1996;312:64
  1. Mary Loudon

    Christopher Hitchens Verso, pounds sterling7.95, pp 98 ISBN 1 85984 054 X

    “Who would be so base,” asks Christopher Hitchens, “as to pick on a wizened, shrivelled old lady, well stricken in years, who has consecrated her whole life to the needy and destitute?”

    The answer is Hitchens himself, in this provocative study of the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He presents a marvellous case, debunking the myth of Mother Teresa as simply as one might peel layers from an onion, producing some old and quite a lot of new evidence to suggest that Mother Teresa, the global icon of sainthood, needs fresh examination in a light unclouded by sentiment.

    Mother Teresa's shining reputation, argues Hitchens, has been foist upon her by the millions who need to feel that someone, somewhere, is doing the things that they are not to help the poor. She feeds on it, has come …

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