Spiritual Healing: Science, Meaning, and Discernment

by Sarah Coakley

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2020

Overview

Spiritual healing has been a cornerstone of Christian belief from its beginnings, although there are various interpretations of what exactly it is and how it happens. To address these questions, the contributors to this volume come together to examine spiritual healing from a number of disciplinary perspectives. How can such healing be explained through a scientific or medical lens? What do biblical and historical instantiations of it tell us today? And how are we to think of it as anthropologists, philosophers, or theologians? Finally, what does all this mean for those seeking spiritual healing for themselves, or pastors walking alongside the afflicted?

Under the guiding editorship of theologian Sarah Coakley, Spiritual Healing offers a composite narrative that investigates the many intermingled factors at work in this intriguing phenomenon. The result is a human story as much as it is a theological one, satisfying discerning believers and skeptics alike in its rigorous pursuit of truth and meaning.

Key Features

• Investigates the many intermingled factors at work in this intriguing phenomenon
• Addresses common theological and scientific questions
• Explores the issue of spiritual healing

Contents

Part I: Biblical and Historical Perspectives

• Healing, Meaning, and Discernment in the Biblical Text Beverly - Roberts Gaventa
• Healing and Ecclesial Response in Nineteenth-Century Catholic France - Emma Anderson
• Healing, Belief, and Interpretation in Nineteenth-Century Protestant America - Heather D. Curtis

Part II: What Science Has to Show Us

• Meaning in the Neural Investigation of Pain - Howard L. Fields
• Brain and Cognitive Processes in Healing - Malcolm Jeeves
• Prayer and Placebo in Scientific Research - Anne Harrington

Part III: Philosophical Insights

• Philosophy of Mind and Emergentism in Thought about Healing - Philip Clayton
• Healing and the Moral Problems of Efficacy - Stephen R. L. Clark

Part IV: Anthropological and Pastoral Perspectives

• Contemporary Healing in Anthropological Perspective - Thomas J. Csordas
• Healing in Pastoral Care - John Swinton
• Conclusion: Whither Spiritual Healing Now? - Sarah Coakley

Product Details

• Title: Spiritual Healing: Science, Meaning, and Discernment
• Editor: Sarah Coakley
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 256
• Resource Type: Collected Essays
• Topic: Theology

About Sarah Coakley

Sarah Coakley (born 1951) is an Anglican systematic theologian and philosopher of religion with wide interdisciplinary interests.