faith healer

 

relief or cure of bodily ills through some religious attitude on the part of the sufferer. In the Jewish and Christian traditions prayers for cures and miracles are usual; thus the apostles developed a ritual of healing (James 5.14–16; see also miracle). In the Catholic churches healing has centered about the sacraments of the Eucharist and anointing of the sick and around shrines (e.g., Lourdes and Sainte Anne de Beaupré) and relics. Since 1800 there have appeared a number of Protestant faith-healing groups, e.g., that of John Alexander Dowie, the Emmanuel movement, and the Peculiar People. The followers of Christian Science, approaching the problem differently, do not consider their system one of faith healing. They consider humans as Godlike and therefore not subject to material ills. Faith healing is of interest in the fields of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.

Bibliography

See M. T. Kelsey, Healing and Christianity (1973); S. Leek, The Story of Faith Healing (1973); D. E. Harrell, Jr., All Things are Possible (1976); J. Randi, The Faith Healers (1988).

Faith healing is the use of supernatural or spiritual intervention to cure disease. Proponents claim their techniques or special spiritual insights can summon supernatural interventions on behalf of the ill.

Faith healing in various belief systems

Christianity

The term "faith healing' is sometimes used in reference to the belief of some Christians who hold that God heals people through the power of the Holy Spirit, often involving the "laying on of hands". Those who hold to this belief do not usually use the term "faith healing" in reference to the practice; that expression is often used descriptively by commentators outside of the faith movement in reference to the belief and practice.^{[citation needed]}

In the four gospels in the Christian Bible, Jesus both performs healings through divine power and indirectly acknowledges the role of the doctor, for example in saying, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Mark 2:17). Jesus endorsed the use of the medical assistance of the time (medicines of oil and wine) when he praised the fictitious Good Samaritan for acting as a physician, telling his disciples to go and do the same thing that the Samaritan did in the story.^[1] The healing in the gospels is referred to as a sign (John 6:2) to prove his divinity and to foster belief in himself as the Christ (John 4:48). However, when asked for miracles, Jesus refused (Mat 12:38).

Catholicism

Faith healing is reported by Catholics as the result of intercessory prayer of a saint or a person with the gift of healing.

The Catholic Church requires two miracles (one being for the preceding beatification) for the canonization of a saint who was not a martyr. In the case of a healing, proof must be given that the healing cannot be explained by medical science. A proof that the sick person or somebody else invoked the intercession of the saint to-be is also required.^{[citation needed]}

Among the best-known accounts among Catholics of faith healings are are those attributed to miraculous intercession of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary known as Our Lady of Lourdes at the grotto of Lourdes in France, and the remissions of life-threatening disease claimed by those who have applied for aid to Saint Jude, who is known as the "patron saint of lost causes".

An example of a Catholic person reported to have the gift of healing is André Besette, a Holy Cross Brother known as the "Miracle Man of Montreal".^{[citation needed]}

Pentecostalism

In Pentecostalism during the 1920s and 1930s Aimee Semple McPherson was a controversial faith healer of growing popularity during the Great Depression. William Branham is usually credited as being the founder of the post World War II healing revivals. ^[2]. By the late 1940s Oral Roberts was well known and continued with faith healing until the 1980s. A friend of Roberts was another popular faith healer, Kathryn Kuhlman, who gained fame in the 1950s and had a television program on CBS. Also in this era, Jack Coe and A. A. Allen were faith healers with large a following, and travelled with large tents to hold mobile, open air crusades. In contrast Ernest Angley in Akron, Ohio made his fame on television.^{[citation needed]}

Oral Robert's successful use of television as a medium to gain a wider audience led others to follow suit. For example, Pat Robertson and Peter Popoff became well-known televangelists who claimed to heal the sick.^{[citation needed]}

LeRoy Jenkins was a well-known and financially-successful faith healer during the 1970s, his operation grossing $3 million a year. In 1979, Jenkins ran afoul of the law and was sentenced to 12 years in South Carolina state prison for a multitude of crimes, including conspiring to burn down the homes of both a state trooper and a creditor. Released from prison early after serving 5 1/2 years, he resumed his faith-healing business. His tarnished reputation never healed.^{[citation needed]}Richard Rossi, known for advertising his healing clinics through secular television and radio, claimed he could demonstrate and prove God's power to unbelievers through indisputable miracles.^{[citation needed]}

Modern healing evangelists include Benny Hinn and Peter Youngren, who based their work and model on Kuhlman. Hinn, like the others, was videotaped by hidden cameras and profiled on an episode of CBC's The Fifth Estate over allegations of fraudulent activity.^[3]

Christian Science

Christian Science advocates the use of prayer instead of medical treatment to treat illness.^{[citation needed]}

New Thought Movement

A specific form of faith healing -- called mental healing or spiritual mind treatment -- is an important aspect of the New Thought Movement.

Denominations that have emerged in New Thought, such as Religious Science, Divine Science, and Unity, make use of this form of healing. It is also advocated and utilized by non-denominational New Thought practitioners; for example, the New Thought author William Walker Atkinson wrote a book on the subject titled Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others in 1916 ^[4]

New Thought is panentheistic -- that is, one of its premises is that God is in everything -- and that includes medicine. In the panentheistic New Thought belief system, man's true nature is seen as divine. Specific techniques, such as affirmative prayer and meditation, are utilized to allign a person with his or her true nature -- called the Christ Mind by some denominational practioners, and the Divine Mind or God by others -- and one experiences a mental and or a physical healing. ^[5]

This is unlike forms of faith healing in which a belief or faith in another entity's power (e.g. the power of Jesus or the intercession of a saint) is said to heal one. New Thought does not dispute Jesus's divinity, but states that we all have the spark of divinity within us and it is our ability to access this inner divinity that heals us. Because New Thought postulates the divine in everything, including medications and doctors, believers may use traditional medical approaches alongside spiritual mind treatments. The mental-spiritual treatments and the physical treatments can be undertaken simultaneously or sequentially; in either case, the premise is that the belief that one can be healed is what heals one.^{[citation needed]}

Criticism

Advocates of conventional medicine argue that studies have shown faith healing to be no more effective than a placebo, making it unethical to rely on, though advocates of spiritual healing argue there exist methodical and bias issues. This has become a legal issue when parents have declined or refused traditional medical care for their children. ^{[citation needed]}

In some countries, parents argue that constitutional guarantees of religious freedom include the right to rely on alternative healing to the exclusion of medical care. Doctors as a rule consider it their duty to do everything that they can in the interests of the patient. In consequence, where they deem medical treatment necessary to save a child's life or health, and balancing the question with legal and privacy concerns, they may act contrary to the preference of a patient's parents. In 2000, a UK government ruling allowed a child to be treated by doctors against the parents' wishes.^{[citation needed]}

Critics, such as professional stage magician James Randi, say faith healing is a quack practice in which the "healers" use well known non-supernatural illusions to exploit credulous people in order to obtain their gratitude, confidence and money.^[6] Randi researched Peter Popoff who claimed to heal sick people and give personal details about their lives. Randi exposed the fact that the voice of God was really radio transmissions of Popoff's wife, Elizabeth, off-stage reading information which she and her aides had gathered from earlier conversation with members of the audience.^[6]

References

1. ^ Booth, Craig. "Faith Healing -- God’s Compassion, God’s Power, and God’s Sovereignty: Is a Christian permitted to seek medical assistance and to use medicine?", December 2003. Retrieved on 2007-05-01. 
2. ^
   • Dictionary of Christianity In America (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990) p182.
   • Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988) p372.
   • Anderson, A., An Introduction to Pentecostalism (Cambridge University Press, 2004) p58
   • Harrell, D.E., All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1978) p25
   • Hollenweger, W. J., Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide, (Hendrickson Publications, 1997) p229
   • Weaver, C.D., The Healer-Prophet: William Marrion Branham (A study of the Prophetic in American Pentecostalism) (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000) p139
3. ^ McKeown, Bob. "Do You Believe in Miracles?", The Fifth Estate, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2004-12. Retrieved on 2006-10-21. 
4. ^ Dumont, Theron, Q. [pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson. Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others. Advanced Thought Publishing Co. Chicago. 1916.
5. ^ Dumont, Theron, Q. [pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson. Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others. Advanced Thought Publishing Co. Chicago. 1916.
6. ^ ^{a b} Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0 page 10. 

Bibliography

- Dr. Matthias Kamp, M.D.: Bruno Groening - A Revolution in Medicine. A medical documentation on spiritual healing. Grete Haeusler Publishing, 1998, (Chapters 1 - 4)

See also

• Affirmative prayer
• Faith Healer, a 1979 play by Brian Friel

External links

• Russian law conjures with magic, BBC. 1 August 2005
• The Association of Former Pentecostals (Critical of some faith healing claims.)
• Faith Healing in The Skeptic's Dictionary

Donate to Wikimedia