Foreword and Acknowledgments, and Introduction Summary and Analysis

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, by Christopher Hitchens, is a no-holds-barred attack on the credibility and integrity of one of the most revered human beings of her time. It makes the case that the Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, is an emissary and a pawn of the worldwide political, economic, and institutional power-mongering of the Catholic Church.Starting with the book's title, Hitchens signals his irreverent intentions. On a literal level, The Missionary Position refers to the "position" of Mother Teresa as a missionary. In that case, it should be called The Missionary's Position, but this would lose the punning reference to a position of sexual intercourse. This rather crude jibe at a Catholic nun, who is required to take a vow of chastity, casts the book's otherwise neutral subtitle...