‘Heal the Sick and Cast out Demons’: The Response of the Aladura

Abstract

In the history of mankind there seems never to have been a time when the human race is vulnerable to the variety of diseases of recent times. The developing and the developed nations alike are constantly facing the threat of sickness and pain as well as the insecurity that emanates from such concerns. Fortunately, the church has not at any point in time refused to help the sick. A quick glance at the Acts of the Apostles shows vividly that healing the sick has been the function of the church since its inception. The Apostles sanctioned faith healing through such practices as the ‘laying on of hands’ and anointing the sick. Healing played a decisive role in the success of the Early Church and it was important in its missionary apologetics. The aspiration to heal the sick was institutionalised as hospices in the Middle Ages. By the nineteenth century these had evolved into hospitals which dispensed scientific or what is generally known as ‘western medicine’. As Webb rightly notes: