What is faith healing?

Overview

The practice of faith healing is common to most if not all religions. Examples
of faith healing include the Buddhist focus on healthy karma created
by mind/body balance, the practice of Ruqya in Islam, the Zohar of
Jewish mysticism, and the Christian belief that adherents may claim physical
health as a benefit of salvation.

While occurring throughout history and in all societies, faith healing in
Western culture may be more expressive of the individualistic nature of postmodern
society. Religious meaning is increasingly found within the context of personal
faith and encounter as opposed to the inclusive experience offered by
institutions. Practitioners of faith healing also tend to be individual
charismatic healers operating either in a religious context or in New Age and
mentalist constructs of paranormal healing through the forces of nature.

Faith healing differs from more general exercises in prayer. It is intensely personal and more individualistic than group or shrine contexts, in which healing is experienced through a holy place, through a saint, or through intercessory prayer.

Issues

Medical analyses of faith healing have not produced any final results concerning its effectiveness. Studies devoted to the general issues of spirituality and health, or the relation of prayer to healing, have focused upon selected recipients, such as ethnic groups, religious congregations, or medical groupings. Faith healing is more difficult to isolate in that it occurs within an intensely personal and often independent context. The most prominent faith healers in contemporary American and European societies operate as independent entities. While these figures may host large meetings, the groups themselves are not expressive of any one culture or religious tradition.

The importance of the entire issue of spirituality and health is demonstrated by the creation of a number of medical centers devoted to investigating the relationship between healing and prayer. These centers include the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at Duke University; the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital; and the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health.

Two primary challenges faced by researchers as they study the spectrum of faith/prayer and healing are the problem of establishing basic parameters under which the studies can be conducted and the issues of verification and falsification. At the same time, the medical community has willingly joined forces with the religious in asserting the value of positive attitudes and the exercise of faith in obtaining physical and emotional healing.

Bibliography

Ateeq, Mohammad, Shazia Jehan, and Riffat Mehmmod. "Faith Healing; Modern Health Care." Professional Medical Journal 21.2 (2014): 295–301. Print.

Brown, Candy Gunther, et al. “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique.” Southern Medical Journal 103.9 (2010): 864–69. Print.

MacNutt, Francis. Healing. Reprint. London: Hodder, 2001. Print.

McGuire, Meredith B. Ritual Healing in Suburban America. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1998. Print.

Vellenga, Sipco J. “Hope for Healing: The Mobilization of Interest in Three Types of Religious Healing in the Netherlands Since 1850.” Social Compass 55 (2008): 330–50. Print.