Healing in the christian tradition

Abstract

AbstractThis paper is based on the a concurrent session workshop at the Fifth International Conference on Spirituality & Health, Rydal Hall, Cumbria, 9–11th April, 2003. The New Testament of the Christian Bible contains many references to the healing ministry of Jesus of Nazareth that provided signs of his divine authority. The ability to heal the sick was a gift that he conferred upon his disciples to support their proclamation of the Gospel, and it was widely manifest in the apostolic era. Since the introduction of a biomedically‐based National Health Service the healing ministry of the Church has commonly been reduced to prayers of intercession. More recently, however, there has been some resurgence of interest in healing ministry within mainstream Christianity, evidenced by the publication of ‘A Time to Heal’1. Furthermore, personal experience within and beyond my diocese has revealed considerable potential for further expansion in the application of Christian Spirituality to health and healing, although this is constrained in many areas by lack of familiarity with what constitutes good practice. Consequently, I have been exploring the Biblical basis and practical utility of various aspects of Christian approaches to healing: confession and absolution, meditation, contemplation, attention, companionship and stress relief (relaxation), laying‐on‐of hands, anointing and Holy Communion. In the present paper I shall provide brief expositions of a selection of pertinent texts2 to introduce various authentic approaches. These will be integrated within a biopsychospiritual model of healing and the concept of healing into death. It is important to emphasise from the outset that the word healing is not being used to refer to miracle cures, although this sometimes happens3, but to processes involved in achieving a healthier state of being. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.