Clinical Efficacy of Ritual Healing and Pastoral Ministry

Abstract

This article seeks to explain the relationship between religion and healing with special reference to the phenomenon of ritual healing. Relying on diverse research findings that articulate the relationship between ritual and healing, this article contends that the clinical efficacy of ritual is sustainable by invoking the concepts of self-healing and placebo effect, and that its efficacy lies in its performance, not in its meaning being either decodable by the ritual performers or theologically encodable by professional thinkers. This, I contend, has practical implications for pastoral care and counseling ministry.