Product Description

"Who would be so base as to pick on a wizened, shrivelled old lady, well stricken in years, who has consecrated her entire life to the needy and destitute? On the other hand, who would be so incurious as to leave unexamined the influence and motives of a woman who once boasted of operating more than five hundred convents in upwards of 105 countries - "without counting India"? Lone self-sacrificing zealot, or chair of a missionary multinational?" Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, feted by politicians, the Church and the world's media, Mother Teresa of Calcutta appears to be on the fast track to sainthood. But what, asks Christopher Hitchens, makes Mother Teresa so divine? In a frank expose of the Teresa cult, Hitchens details the nature and limits of one woman's mission to the world's poor. He probes the source of the heroic status bestowed upon an Albanian nun whose only declared wish is to serve God. He asks whether Mother Teresa's good works answer any higher purpose than the need of the world's privileged to see someone, somewhere, doing something for the Third World. He unmasks pseudo-miracles, questions Mother Teresa's fitness to adjudicate on matters of sex and reproduction, and reports on a version of saintly ubiquity which affords genial relations with dictators, corrupt tycoons and convicted frauds. How should we relate to Mother? As an essential salve to the conscience of the rich West, or an expert PR machine for the Catholic Church? In its caustic iconoclasm and unsparing wit, The Missionary Position confirms Christopher Hitchens as one of today's most devastating polemicists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5171 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 98 pages

About the Author
Christopher Hitchens is a journalist living in Washington. He writes the 'Cultural Elite' column for Vanity Fair and the 'Minority Report' column for The Nation. His other books include Blood, Class and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies, International Territory: Official Utopia and the United Nations 1945-95 (with Adam Bartos), and For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports.

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Refutation of Religious Nonsense
What a wonderful and delightfully funny book Christopher Hitchens has written! It debunks all kinds of nonsense put forth by persons who have never taken the time to examine Mother Teresa's ministry the way Hitchens did. He "casts a cold eye" on her work, and the results of his investigation are shocking indeed!

As even a cursory glance of the reviews at this site prove, people will excuse any kind of skullduggery - as long as it is in the name of God! Mind you, I am a highly spiritual person - what I object to is blind obedience to the dictates of a religion, with no consideration of its shortcomings.

Far from dispelling light, as one of the reviewers claims, Hitchens is shining a beacon on the truth about Mother Teresa. Hallelujah! The truth shall set us free, free from the shackles of organized religion.

An interesting examination of the Mother Teresa story
Hitchens, columnist for "The Nation" and "Vanity Fair," offers open-minded readers an iconoclastic take on the Mother Teresa phenomenon. She is judged by her reputation, not by her deeds, and the majority of the media unfortunately puff up her image and never examine her actions.

Particularly memorable is Hitchens' recounting of the "discovery" of Mother Teresa by Malcolm Muggeridge, whose 1970 BBC documentary with the title of something like "Miracle for God" contained Mr. Muggeridge's testimony of what he believed to be a genuine miracle. But on the word of a noted cinematographer (who worked, incidentally, on Kenneth Clarke's series on PBS entitled "Civilisation"), the supposed miracle had more to do with the Eastman Kodak filmstock than it did with any divine intervention. Muggeridge's praise of Teresa at that time created the reputation surrounding the saint of Calcutta which lives to this day. And yet the public thoughtlessly accepts this stuff. The general approval of the Mother Teresa industry is merely a manifestation of an affluent West's wanting to have some way to ease their guilt for their own attitude toward the unfortunate of the world. Hitchens' prose style, as well as his rather unusual (though quite reasonable) examination of his subject matter is a true joy to read. Hitchens' work is very definitely journalism, unfortunately not practiced by most of the hacks who work in the media today.

Eye opening, leaving one wanting explanations
In discussing this book with my friends and co-workers, I found that they reacted with the same "raised-eyebrow shock" that I did. But what we also shared was the same mis-quided, media driven vision of a person that was suposedly unquestionable. After reading this book, intently I might add, I wanted answers. I want to know where all the donations to Mother Teresa's organiztion has gone because it certainly hasn't gone to the poor. I want to know why Mother Teresa has posed in pictures with the wife of a dictator, with a man claiming to have a higher spiritual consciousness than Jesus himself, and with Charles Keating, the man who financially raped so many. Her actions and her words are not congruent and I am thankful to those who look at a situation and make the hard decisions. Christopher Hitchens is intelligent and courageous for writing this book and I am now a fan. The book was well written with sources that will withstand independant scrutiny. I don't know how anyone, after reading this book, could say that Mother Teresa is a saint.