Jesus as Healer: A Gospel for the Body by Jan-Olav Henriksen and Karl Olav Sandnes

Abstract

Reviewed by: Jesus as Healer: A Gospel for the Body by Jan-Olav Henriksen and Karl Olav Sandnes Frederick Gaiser jan-olav henriksen and karl olav sandnes, Jesus as Healer: A Gospel for the Body (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). Pp. x + 273. Paper $35. In the introduction to this valuable book, Jan-Olav Henriksen and Karl Olav Sandnes explain, among other things, what they mean by their subtitle, "A Gospel for the Body," that is, to "recognize in what ways God may be seen to have a healing presence in the world" (p. 5). They will do this both through NT studies that have moved beyond much of historical criticism's rationalist approach to texts and through a systematic theology that is more open to both empirical studies and the field of religious studies (p. 3). Early on S. provides a simple, yet highly valuable contribution: charts categorizing all Jesus's healing stories in terms of NT book, sickness/diagnosis, healing method, and outcome. He goes on to provide a thorough assessment of Jesus as healer in NT scholarship. At the end of this forty-page overview he offers a conclusion that is actually a statement of a position that H. and S. will seek to challenge directly, namely, the prevailing notion that Jesus's healings are caused exclusively by natural reasons. Prevailing NT scholarship, says S., "attempts to explain away the wondrous in these stories, that which is said to have caused the amazement of the spectators" (p. 63). Although S. does not reject the view that natural causation was a factor in Jesus's cures, it alone cannot explain why or how Jesus was regarded as extraordinary when compared to other healers of the time. S. does not neglect the hard issues, including a discussion of raising the dead (pp. 64-69). Here he challenges the position of John Dominic Crossan that the resurrection stories are metaphors or allegories. Indeed, writes S., "in [NT] perspective, a mythic, fictitious, or parabolic interpretation is unable to account for these texts" (p. 69). Needless to say, S. and H. are not biblical literalists, but they are willing to let the NT speak on its own terms. After thoroughly examining such issues as Jesus as healer in the Gospels, Jesus still a healer through his disciples, and healing in the early church, S. concludes his section of the book with a chapter entitled "Toward a Theology of Jesus as Healer." The final paragraphs of this section raise the question of whether the NT regards Jesus as the exclusive healer: "Were [Jesus's healings], and their perpetuation among his followers, the only option for remedying sickness?" (p. 125). This question is important because much of the tradition has responded affirmatively. S., however, after carefully working through the relevant texts, answers his own question in the negative, concluding that "Jesus is at work as a healer in a way that encapsulates both creation and redemption" (p. 130). Similar to S.'s overview of NT scholarship on healing, H. provides a review of both classical and recent discussion about miracles, an invaluable summary for the reader. Of course, these reviews by both authors cannot be exhaustive, but they are a very helpful index to the material. Before this, H. devotes a chapter to the question "What Is Healing?" Rejecting an attempt at a brief definition, he hopes "to interpret and clarify the phenomenon of healing from the point of view of psychology, science, and theology" (p. 136). This is but one more example of how seriously the authors take significant questions and how carefully they look for appropriate responses. In the following chapter, H. cites favorably Lars Lindström's definition of Christian healing: "the full salvation of the entire man, body, mind, and spirit through the re-integration of a life founded on a new relationship to God as a loving Father" (Lindström, Christian Spiritual Healing: A Psychological Study. Ideology and Experience [End Page 337] in the British Healing Movement [Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Psychologia et Sociologia Religionum 7; Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 1992] 170). Once again, this holistic approach describes what H. and S. are about throughout their book. In the chapter entitled...