faith healing, relief or cure of bodily ills through some religious attitude on the part of the sufferer. In the Jewish and Christian traditions prayers for cures and miracles are usual; thus the apostles developed a ritual of healing (James 5.14–16; see also miracle miracle, preternatural occurrence that is viewed as the expression of a divine will. Its awe and wonder lie in the fact that the cause is hidden. The idea of the miracle occurs especially with the evolution of those highly developed religions that distinguish between
..... Click the link for more information. ). In the Catholic churches healing has centered about the sacraments of the Eucharist and anointing of the sick anointing of the sick, sacrament of the Orthodox Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church, formerly known as extreme unction. In it a sick or dying person is anointed on eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, hands, feet, and sometimes, in the case of men, the loins, by a
..... Click the link for more information. and around shrines (e.g., Lourdes Lourdes (l

rd), town (1990 pop. 16,581), Hautes-Pyrénées dept.
..... Click the link for more information. and Sainte Anne de Beaupré Sainte Anne de Beaupré (săNtăn` də bōprā`, Fr. săNtăn`də bōprā`), village (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and relics relics, part of the body of a saint or a thing closely connected with the saint in life. In traditional Christian belief they have had great importance, and miracles have often been associated with them.
..... Click the link for more information. . Since 1800 there have appeared a number of Protestant faith-healing groups, e.g., that of John Alexander Dowie Dowie, John Alexander (dou`ē), 1847–1907, founder of the Christian Catholic Church , b. Scotland.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Emmanuel movement, and the Peculiar People Peculiar People, an alternate rendering for the biblical phrase "chosen people" (of Israel), applied to numerous Protestant dissenting sects such as the Plumstead peculiars. This group, founded in London in 1838 by John Banyard, refused medical treatment as an article of faith.
..... Click the link for more information. . The followers of Christian Science Christian Science, religion founded upon principles of divine healing and laws expressed in the acts and sayings of Jesus, as discovered and set forth by Mary Baker Eddy and practiced by the Church of Christ, Scientist.
..... Click the link for more information. , approaching the problem differently, do not consider their system one of faith healing. They consider humans as Godlike and therefore not subject to material ills. Faith healing is of interest in the fields of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.

Bibliography

See M. T. Kelsey, Healing and Christianity (1973); S. Leek, The Story of Faith Healing (1973); D. E. Harrell, Jr., All Things are Possible (1976); J. Randi, The Faith Healers (1988).

faith healing

Curing of an illness or disability by recourse to divine power, without the use of traditional medicine. A healer such as a clergy member or an inspired layperson may act as intermediary. Certain places, such as the grotto at Lourdes, France, are believed to effect cures among believers. In ancient Greece, temples honoring the god of medicine, Asclepius, were built near springs with healing waters. In Christianity, support for faith healing is based on the miraculous cures wrought by Jesus during his ministry. Christian Science is noted for faith healing, and it is also practiced in a more dramatic way in Pentecostalism through such customs as the laying on of hands.

faith healing (redirected from Healing evangelist)

Bibliography

faith healing

faith healing
(redirected from Healing evangelist)