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her directly‟. Not these words from the interview cited at much greater length in section6.3 above.‗I felt that these words were God speaking to me directly and at the invitation for prayer Iwent forward for prayer. This is not something that I do lightly or on a regular basis. As Istood at the altar I started to pray and I was playing with my throat, like this! using myhands to gently touch and rub my throat (as she said this she was demonstrating heractions of rubbing her throat during her prayer)‘ I felt that something had moved in mythroat but I did not say anything to anyone.She believed that by massaging her throat and praying for herself she was able to claimhealing. Rubbing her throat and praying drew from the energy field of prayer and with theenergy generated from her own altered state of consciousness, she was able to self heal.This action was probably not predetermined and her explanation would probably be that itwas the inspiration of the Holy Spirit during her openness to receive healing. Theenvironment of worship and music was also a contributory factor. She may have beeninfluenced by non-academic popular healing literature like Lawrence (2001) who suggeststhat actions such as placing the palms of the hand together holds positive energy within.Where this person would normally be laying hands on another person she used the sameenergy to heal herself. She described the result as „I felt something had moved in mythroat.‟Below is a description of the apparently „forceful‟ touching action of the minister during aservice at the COGIC convention (in August 2004). The most outstanding aspect of this275
service was when the speaker came to a young lady who was sitting in the row of seats infront of me.He came to her, held her by the hand and said ‗I have been directed by the spirit to prayfor you‘ He then led her to the front of the audience and said to her‘ You have doubletrouble‘ Am I right? She nodded in agreement. He then said ‗The Lord tell me to tell youthat‘ ‗You will come through and you will be stronger‘ He then proceeded to pray for her,Before he started to pray for her two senior members of the congregation (one male andone female who was the Bishop‘s wife as she was introduced as such earlier in the service)came and stood behind the lady. As he prayed for her, he laid his right hand on herforehead and with what appeared to be slightly forceful action or gentle push, she fellbackwards. She was prevented from falling directly by the supporting ‗ministers‘ whosupported her on to the floor as she fell backwards. The speaker continued to address thecongregation.My observation possibilities at this point were rather limited as I could not see clearly whatwas happening from where I was sitting. The lady did not stay for very long on the floorand she was helped to a sitting position quite quickly although the sheet used to protect thedignity of female members wearing a skirt and who have fallen on the floor came out quitequickly after she fell to the floor.Prior to this incident there was the usual invitation for prayer, after the speaker hadfinished speaking, where several members of the congregation went for prayer fordeliverance or for healing. This church does not separate healing services from otherservices. (See observation of healing services in COGIC and URC in chapter 4 and above.)It is believed that messages (sermons) can be „therapeutic‟ and healing tas place during276
Page 1:
Greenwich Academic Literature Archi
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AcknowledgementsI extend much grati
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Chapter 3: Methodology 633.1 Introd
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7.3 Prayer as Health Seeking Behavi
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CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
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healing, bricolage and the use of s
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To remedy these gaps in the discour
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do with me‟ so she sent me to sch
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Interestingly, after 30 years of pr
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listening to a group of people that
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that I felt within the Black majori
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Chapter 3 describes the methodology
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espondents‟ perception of sufferi
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CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Int
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themes, it became necessary to revi
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suggests a combined approach where
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and healing as a kind of self-impro
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eports that the English believed th
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According to Davey et al (2002) ill
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deviant behaviour. The difference b
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church concretised the ideas of rel
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theology. It is no accident that th
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concept of culture we inevitably do
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When we look at the effect of cultu
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to help us to understand the totali
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information about the association a
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when emotional wounds are healed or
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climatic conditions, shelter and a
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cancers has been documented by Phil
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concepts of reality and destiny are
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healer intentionally through a proc
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attachments that meet humans' funda
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distinguish from mental disorders.
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take a phenomenological and ethnogr
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coming but her method is not primar
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from posters on the church notice b
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Healing services in both churches f
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Qualitative method can, however, be
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3.5 Problems of participant and non
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difficulties that were to be presen
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isolating experience was certainly
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not necessarily addressed through t
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It may not be possible for all the
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signed to their awareness and appro
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Consequently the practice relating
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problem free. Ethnography requires
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ecommended by the Pastor. When they
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The greater proportion of females i
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difficulties involved in constructi
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musical Pentecostal style of worshi
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The different emphases in soteriolo
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literature may remain in its infanc
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does not mean „Pentecostal‟ nor
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church, the cultural differences we
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umbrella of churches. The leaders c
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local autonomy, the majority of Con
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The post-1905 Pentecostals saw thei
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the Holy Ghost). Interestingly the
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the churches they are busy breaking
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friends started to meet in the home
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such as COGIC, have developed a str
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the church group to strangers. In t
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and illustrate the oral tradition o
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4.8.1. Description of the inside of
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The order of service below is based
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forgiving note may signify partial
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Table 3 Organisational hierarchy of
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One of the original churches which
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communion table. To the right of th
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Minister used an acronym to illustr
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GloriaPrayer for grace or collectSc
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service whilst URC church attendees
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mainstream Christianity, their doct
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on the project and make requests to
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made to integrate the white people
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‗Garlic is good for reducing high
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4.13 ConclusionThis chapter began w
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organization. This role can only be
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5.3 The Authority and Power of the
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to become approved (professional) m
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majority. In recent years with Brit
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leadership although it is about aut
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Azusa Street outpouring in 1906. Af
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other who wal sorderly, and not of
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Although the Holy Spirit was presen
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Respondent 3 covered topics includi
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Respondent 10 (below) has similar v
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of rejection by the host community
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ehaviour model. In this situation,
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and they feel. It is not everybody
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many sections of society. It also s
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people. These qualities, however, a
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came across as though he was presen
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very important for this.On occasion
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CHAPTER SIXSUFFERING AND HEALING6.1
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mind body and spirit implies that i
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suffering. Most of these situations
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Respondent: Not for my sister she h
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man to repent and return to the cre
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clotting treatment. After the treat
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gift of miraculous powers go with t
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What I teach on this matter is, tha
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The bible does not condemn, forbid
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possibility of impending change in
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prayer or they are rested. What is
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„Whatever the educational attainm
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„The message of Job is a comfort
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he has questioned God‟s purposes
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pray for them. In the words of seve
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demonic forces. Explanations of spi
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In the observation example quoted a
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employed by the mother had she live
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healing. Worthington et al. (2007)
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in the account of a young mother in
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Page 241 and 242: when the healer petitions God in pr
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Page 249 and 250: ministers like Harris (2002) 3 . Th
Page 251 and 252: Healing services in the URC are mor
Page 253 and 254: Respondent: You have to have the gi
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Page 257 and 258: Chapter 2, without taking some posi
Page 259 and 260: Prayer for distant healing takes pl
Page 261 and 262: Although prayers for healing are sa
Page 263 and 264: The healing services also include f
Page 265 and 266: The method and processes of closing
Page 267 and 268: 7.7. ConclusionThis chapter has exa
Page 269 and 270: This chapter was born out of observ
Page 271 and 272: website (http://www.stonybrookmedic
Page 273 and 274: For those who reject traditional Ch
Page 275 and 276: hands on the forehead of each perso
Page 277 and 278: The minister also invited the rest
Page 279 and 280: service closed with silence accompa
Page 281 and 282: In this respondent‟s‟ account,
Page 283: Below are brief parts of extracts p
Page 287 and 288: observed believed the aura of the h
Page 289 and 290: Ministers/healers of these two cong
Page 291 and 292: constituent of worship even where t
Page 293 and 294: to herself, and argues that music h
Page 295 and 296: could not read or write. Such music
Page 297 and 298: linking the psychic/mythological an
Page 299 and 300: group coordination through rhythmo-
Page 301 and 302: People can become so involved in a
Page 303 and 304: visual and auditory areas which act
Page 305 and 306: Campbell (1998) argue that as music
Page 307 and 308: The extracts from fieldwork notes b
Page 309 and 310: In COGIC the singing is accompanied
Page 311 and 312: when I was ill. Then my mum died th
Page 313 and 314: The passage cited from Respondent 1
Page 315 and 316: CHAPTER TENCONCLUSION AND RECOMMEND
Page 317 and 318: etween health professionals and chu
Page 319 and 320: The initial aim of the study: „to
Page 321 and 322: part of worship services a priority
Page 323 and 324: health professionals and spiritual
Page 325 and 326: are culturally conditioned rational
Page 327 and 328: professionals. Despite the differen
Page 329 and 330: prominent amongst people who attend
Page 331 and 332: ReferencesAchterberg, J., (1985) Im
Page 333 and 334: Bentham, J., (2001ff, originally 18
Page 335 and 336:
Department of Health, (1999) Saving
Page 337 and 338:
Hall, S., (1985) “Religious Ideol
Page 339 and 340:
Katz, J. J., (1990) Metaphysics of
Page 341 and 342:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/artic
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Pullar, P., (1988) Spiritual and La
Page 345 and 346:
Comparative Perspective, Berg, Oxfo
Page 347 and 348:
International, London and New York.
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