Healing in the History of Christianity

Healing in the History of Christianity PDF

Author: Amanda Porterfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005-08-25

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780198035749

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Amanda Porterfield offers a survey of ideas, rituals, and experiences of healing in Christian history. Jesus himself performed many miracles of healing, and Christians down the ages have seen this as a prominent feature of their faith. Indeed, healing is one of the most constant themes in the long and sprawling history of Christianity. Changes in healing beliefs and practices offer a window into changes in religious authority, church structure, and ideas about sanctity, history, resurrection, and the kingdom of God. Porterfield chronicles these changes, at the same time shedding important new light on the universality of religious healing. Finally, she looks at recent scientific findings about religion's biological effects, and considers the relation of these findings to ages-old traditions about belief and healing.

Healing in the Early Church

Healing in the Early Church PDF

Author: Andrew Daunton-Fear

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1606088742

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This monograph presents the most comprehensive investigation yet made into the healing activity of the Early Church. In contrast to early skeptics like B. B. Warfield, the author is convinced there was a vigorous healing ministry in the centuries that followed the apostles, though it fluctuated somewhat and changed its mode. Exorcism is prominently attested throughout the period. The pre-Nicene Fathers recognized its great apologetic value as a dramatic demonstration of the superiority of Jesus Christ over pagan gods. Interest in healing miracles per se appears to have been particularly characteristic of the less educated members of the Church and those who were chaste in their devotion to the cause of Christ. Amongst these groups gifts of healing were found, becoming rare it seems by the mid-third century, but well attested again later in monastic circles. In the pre-Nicene period anointing with oil (in the name of Christ) was clearly an avenue of healing and, though mentioned comparatively rarely, may have been widespread as part of the regular ministry of local clergy to the sick. Baptismal healing, physical as well as spiritual, also took place. In the post-Nicene Church the shrines of the martyrs became a prominent locus of healing. Devotion to this cult may have been encouraged by Church Fathers as an acceptable alternative to magical practices. But evidence suggests syncretism did occur and martyr's relics could be invested with quasi-magical awe. Most Fathers were positive about the medical profession, seeing it as an avenue of God's work, and in the late fourth century one pioneered the hospital which then spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In an appendix to his work, the author sets down nine pointers from the healing activity of the Early Church, and his own experience, to assist those engaged in the healing ministry today.

Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity

Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity PDF

Author: Gary B. Ferngren

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2016-08

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1421420066

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Drawing on New Testament studies and recent scholarship on the expansion of the Christian church, Gary B. Ferngren presents a comprehensive historical account of medicine and medical philanthropy in the first five centuries of the Christian era. Ferngren first describes how early Christians understood disease. He examines the relationship of early Christian medicine to the natural and supernatural modes of healing found in the Bible. Despite biblical accounts of demonic possession and miraculous healing, Ferngren argues that early Christians generally accepted naturalistic assumptions about disease and cared for the sick with medical knowledge gleaned from the Greeks and Romans. Ferngren also explores the origins of medical philanthropy in the early Christian church. Rather than viewing illness as punishment for sins, early Christians believed that the sick deserved both medical assistance and compassion. Even as they were being persecuted, Christians cared for the sick within and outside of their community. Their long experience in medical charity led to the creation of the first hospitals, a singular Christian contribution to health care. "A succinct, thoughtful, well-written, and carefully argued assessment of Christian involvement with medical matters in the first five centuries of the common era . . . It is to Ferngren's credit that he has opened questions and explored them so astutely. This fine work looks forward as well as backward; it invites fuller reflection of the many senses in which medicine and religion intersect and merits wide readership."—Journal of the American Medical Association "In this superb work of historical and conceptual scholarship, Ferngren unfolds for the reader a cultural milieu of healing practices during the early centuries of Christianity."—Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith "Readable and widely researched . . . an important book for mission studies and American Catholic movements, the book posits the question of what can take its place in today's challenging religious culture."—Missiology: An International Review Gary B. Ferngren is a professor of history at Oregon State University and a professor of the history of medicine at First Moscow State Medical University. He is the author of Medicine and Religion: A Historical Introduction and the editor of Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction.

Christian Healing

Christian Healing PDF

Author: Mark Pearson

Publisher: Charisma Media

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1591856299

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Why are some people not healed? What's the relationship between sin and sickness? Is it possible to heal memories? Active in healing ministry for many years, Mark Pearson offers thorough and balanced biblical teaching concerning physical, emotional, and spiritual healing in Christ. A priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church, Pearson brings together the basic truths about healing from three streams of Christianity: sacramental, evangelical, and charismatic/Pentecostal. Christian Healing will help you understand: * Why the ministry of healing is downplayed or rejected by some in the church today* The devil's role in illness* The four ways God works healing* The deception and dangers of New Age* How to introduce a healing ministry in your church Written in a plain, user-friendly, and understandable manner, this book will enable you to fully grasp God as the Healer. Are you ready for this revelation? "Whatever your religious background, you will find Christian Healing an excellent introduction to the healing ministry if you are just getting started, or an important addition to your library even if you have been praying for the sick for many years."-Francis MacNutt, Director, Christian Healing Ministries, Jacksonville, Florida About the author: Mark Pearson, an Oxford graduate and clergyman for more than thirty years, Mark Pearson id the cofounder of New Creation Healing Center in Plaistow, New Hampshire, which combines medicine, biblical counseling, and prayer to minister to body, soul, and spirit. A leader of teaching and healing conferences around the world, Pearson is the president and cofounder of the Institute for Christian Renewal, which seeks to help bring a balanced spiritual renewal to churches and individuals.

Jesus the Healer

Jesus the Healer PDF

Author: Stevan L. Davies

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780334026051

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Jesus the Healer argues that at least some of the sayings of Jesus in John's gospel - for example, "I and the Father are one" and "I come from the Father" - are quotations from Jesus himself when possessed by and speaking as the spirit of God. This book is a radical new look at Jesus as exorcist and healer.

Spirits of Protestantism

Spirits of Protestantism PDF

Author: Pamela E. Klassen

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2011-06-25

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0520244281

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“Klassen’s book is much more than a first-rate study of how two churches in Canada positioned themselves within the ostensibly parallel worlds of biomedicine and spiritual healing. It is, at its core, an insightful meditation on the relationship between liberal Protestantism and the project of modernity. A must read not only for students of Christianity, but all those interested in the legacies of secularism and enchantment." —Matthew Engelke, London School of Economics

Making Christian History

Making Christian History PDF

Author: Michael Hollerich

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2021-06-22

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 0520295366

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Known as the “Father of Church History,” Eusebius was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and the leading Christian scholar of his day. His Ecclesiastical History is an irreplaceable chronicle of Christianity’s early development, from its origin in Judaism, through two and a half centuries of illegality and occasional persecution, to a new era of tolerance and favor under the Emperor Constantine. In this book, Michael J. Hollerich recovers the reception of this text across time. As he shows, Eusebius adapted classical historical writing for a new “nation,” the Christians, with a distinctive theo-political vision. Eusebius’s text left its mark on Christian historical writing from late antiquity to the early modern period—across linguistic, cultural, political, and religious boundaries—until its encounter with modern historicism and postmodernism. Making Christian History demonstrates Eusebius’s vast influence throughout history, not simply in shaping Christian culture but also when falling under scrutiny as that culture has been reevaluated, reformed, and resisted over the past 1,700 years.

Healer

Healer PDF

Author: Zorodzai Dube

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2020-12-31

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1928523714

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This book explores the established field of healing narratives in the New Testament by focusing on the remembered tradition regarding Jesus’ healings and comparing them with those of other healers, such as Asclepius. A sub-theme to the book is to investigate the reception of Jesus as healer in various African communities. The book exposes the various healing methods employed by Jesus such as exorcism, touch and the use of spittle. Like any other healing performances that reflect the healthcare system of a given culture, Jesus’ healings were holistic: healing the bodily pain, restoring households and combatting stigmatisation and marginalisation. The book demonstrates Jesus’ healing activities as “shalom” performances that seek to re-establish peace in all its social dimensions. With regard to the reception of Jesus as healer in the African context, the book elaborates the sacrificial lamb motif and the need for restoring a relationship with God. All the contributions in the book present a unique and original perspective in understanding Jesus as healer from an African healthcare system.

Jesus as Healer

Jesus as Healer PDF

Author: Jan-Olav Henriksen

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2016-05-11

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1467445266

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Healings and miracles play a prominent role in the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. In the Western Christian tradition, however, Jesus’ works of healing tend to be downplayed and understood as little more than a demonstration of his divine power. In this book Jan-Olav Henriksen and Karl Olav Sandnes draw on both contemporary systematic theology and New Testament scholarship to challenge and investigate the reasons for that oversight. They constructively consider what it can mean for Christian theology today to understand Jesus as a healer, to embrace fully the embodied character of the Christian faith, and to recognize the many ways in which God can still be seen to have a healing presence in the world.

Medicine and Religion

Medicine and Religion PDF

Author: Gary B. Ferngren

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2014-03-19

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1421412160

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Explores the interplay of medicine and religion in Western societies. Medicine and Religion is the first book to comprehensively examine the relationship between medicine and religion in the Western tradition from ancient times to the modern era. Beginning with the earliest attempts to heal the body and account for the meaning of illness in the ancient Near East, historian Gary B. Ferngren describes how the polytheistic religions of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome and the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have complemented medicine in the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. Ferngren paints a broad and detailed portrait of how humans throughout the ages have drawn on specific values of diverse religious traditions in caring for the body. Religious perspectives have informed both the treatment of disease and the provision of health care. And, while tensions have sometimes existed, relations between medicine and religion have often been cooperative and mutually beneficial. Religious beliefs provided a framework for explaining disease and suffering that was larger than medicine alone could offer. These beliefs furnished a theological basis for a compassionate care of the sick that led to the creation of the hospital and a long tradition of charitable medicine. Praise for Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity, by Gary B. Ferngren "This fine work looks forward as well as backward; it invites fuller reflection of the many senses in which medicine and religion intersect and merits wide readership."—JAMA "An important book, for students of Christian theology who understand health and healing to be topics of theological interest, and for health care practitioners who seek a historical perspective on the development of the ethos of their vocation."—Journal of Religion and Health