Challenges and Choices

Chapter 9 outlines the many ongoing challenges to establish and maintain alliances and partnerships between the faith-based and medical sectors. These include serious questions that remain to be addressed regarding legal and constitutional issues, the politics of policy development, jurisdictional and turf disputes across sectors, professional and training requirements, ethical concerns of many types, and the special challenges of research and evaluation. Prospects for the future of such partnerships are critically assessed, and agendas for future programmatic and scholarly work are offered. The takeaway point for the book is stated and discussed, namely that the intersections of the faith-based and medical sectors are multifaceted and of long standing.