Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Conceptual issues in spiritual healing
- 2 The historical Jesus and healing: Jesus' miracles in psychosocial context
- 3 The theology of spiritual healing
- 4 Healing the spirit: mystical Judaism, religious texts and medicine
- 5 Conceptualizations of spiritual healing: Christian and secular
- 6 The psychodynamics of spiritual healing and the power of mother kissing it better
- 7 Spiritual healing in the context of the human need for safeness, connectedness and warmth: a biopsychosocial approach
- 8 Modelling the biomedical role of spirituality through breast cancer research
- 9 Spirituality and health: assessing the evidence
- 10 Relating spiritual healing and science: some critical reflections
- 11 Concluding integration
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Conceptualizations of spiritual healing: Christian and secular
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Conceptual issues in spiritual healing
- 2 The historical Jesus and healing: Jesus' miracles in psychosocial context
- 3 The theology of spiritual healing
- 4 Healing the spirit: mystical Judaism, religious texts and medicine
- 5 Conceptualizations of spiritual healing: Christian and secular
- 6 The psychodynamics of spiritual healing and the power of mother kissing it better
- 7 Spiritual healing in the context of the human need for safeness, connectedness and warmth: a biopsychosocial approach
- 8 Modelling the biomedical role of spirituality through breast cancer research
- 9 Spirituality and health: assessing the evidence
- 10 Relating spiritual healing and science: some critical reflections
- 11 Concluding integration
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
During the twentieth century there has been a marked revival of interest in spiritual healing within the Christian church. Initially this arose from an integration of liturgical and psychiatric elements, though more recently it has been given considerable further impetus by the charismatic revival. Alongside this, there has also been a marked development of interest in spiritual healing in more secular society, within what used to be called the ‘New Age’ movement (though that term is increasingly disowned). In this chapter we will compare how these two groups of healers understand spiritual healing. The focus will be on how spiritual healing is conceptualized and understood and we will compare expositions of healing in Christian and secular cultures.
Our methodology will examine and compare two sets of popular books about spiritual healing to see what assumptions about healing are made. On the one hand there are books written for Christians, embedding healing firmly in the tenets of the Christian faith and increasingly written from a charismatic viewpoint. Such books usually say little about healing outside the churches, though they may provide information about complementary medicine. There is a tendency to warn against techniques that employ mechanisms not understood by orthodox science. On the other hand, there are books about spiritual healing written from a non-Christian standpoint. These usually contain only a passing reference to healing that takes place in the Christian environment, though the tacit assumption is that Christian healing is a variant of other forms of spiritual healing.
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- Spiritual HealingScientific and Religious Perspectives, pp. 77 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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