An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

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Popular advocates of spiritual healing who are not based in mainstream religious bodiesoften ta a “holistic approach to healing” where balance (which essentially means balanceof the humours) is closely related to supposed physical attributes of the human body. King(1976), Lawrence (2001) and Angelo (2002) argue that to have faith or a positive attitudetowards healing helps but religious faith is not a pre-requisite for the receiving of healing.The authors create a mythology within which the electro- magnetic field, the human energyfield and the aura is a “channel” through which healing energy is conducted from thehealer to the healed. Achterberg (1985:120) asserts that healing means “to restore to health,to become of sound body mind and spirit ..... It is the interrelatedness among neurons andtheir activities that is critical to the assumption that imagery serves as an integrativemechanism between the mental and physical processes”! Sociological discussions lithose of Pullar (1988), or anthropological views like those of Owuor et al (2006) andTeuton et al (2007) looking at non-European cultures, also present spiritual healing as apractical holistic therapy but suggest it is often symptomatic rather than curative healing.Much of the popular literature on folk medicine seeks to interpret it in the light ofcontemporary alternative therapies and health doctrines, as may be seen in the discussionsof Inglis (1980), and Cassell (1978). In a more academic fashion, Twigg (1979:22)suggests the idea of nature is highly valued as symbolic in folk and unorthodox medicinealike. Practices such as vegetarianism, homeopathy, osteopathy, herbalism, naturopathyand spiritual healing are cultural ways of life that are accepted by many as containingmessages of truth with deep emotional impact. Inglis (1980) asserts the valued idea ofwholeness in folk medicine is expressed as balance of the body and mind and that the aimof care is to treat the symptoms of the condition as well as the whole person. The BritishHerbal Medicine Association (BHMA) leaflet which includes a code of practice,45
information about the association and a list of herbal remedies approved by the associationstresses that the list of medicines and the information is for general purposes and not asubstitute for professional health advice. In folk medicine, illness symbolizes a culturallysignificant pattern and embodies a change in the bio-socio-psychological state (Davey etal. 2002).Helman (2002) explored the benefits of folk lore medicine in a North London suburb andfound that folk belief about illness and healing can survive the impact of scientificmedicine. This he believes is important because although we have a National Health(NHS) Service and welfare state in Britain, most cases of ill health are still dealt withoutside the health care system. It is estimated that three quarters of abnormal symptoms aredealt with by patients themselves, their friends, their families or even the local pharmacy orherbalist. Helman‟s (2002) study was prompted by his curiosity of what it means to „Feed acold, starve a fever‟, and exemplified the classification symptoms of “cold” and “fever” interms of classic Galenic humeral typology, related in complex ways to modern diseaseaetiology discussed in his definitive textbook on culture and health (Helman 2001:19).2.4 Theological concepts of health, illness and healing2.4.1 Pain and healing: ‘miracle or magic’?Spiritual healing can be perceived as requiring the appropriate environment such as belief,faith, cultural orientation, support and the emotional/spiritual tenacity of the healer and theperson seeking healing. The processes of the healing of psychological wounds have beenexplored by Bowlby (1980), Parkes (1986) and Marris (1974). Their perspectives on thesociological and psychological aspects of bereavement and loss are further discussed by46
Page 1:
Greenwich Academic Literature Archi
Page 4 and 5: AcknowledgementsI extend much grati
Page 6 and 7: Chapter 3: Methodology 633.1 Introd
Page 8 and 9: 7.3 Prayer as Health Seeking Behavi
Page 10 and 11: CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
Page 12 and 13: healing, bricolage and the use of s
Page 14 and 15: To remedy these gaps in the discour
Page 16 and 17: do with me‟ so she sent me to sch
Page 18 and 19: Interestingly, after 30 years of pr
Page 20 and 21: listening to a group of people that
Page 22 and 23: that I felt within the Black majori
Page 24: Chapter 3 describes the methodology
Page 27: espondents‟ perception of sufferi
Page 30 and 31: CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Int
Page 32 and 33: themes, it became necessary to revi
Page 34 and 35: suggests a combined approach where
Page 36 and 37: and healing as a kind of self-impro
Page 39 and 40: eports that the English believed th
Page 41 and 42: According to Davey et al (2002) ill
Page 43 and 44: deviant behaviour. The difference b
Page 45 and 46: church concretised the ideas of rel
Page 47 and 48: theology. It is no accident that th
Page 49 and 50: concept of culture we inevitably do
Page 51 and 52: When we look at the effect of cultu
Page 53: to help us to understand the totali
Page 57 and 58: when emotional wounds are healed or
Page 59 and 60: climatic conditions, shelter and a
Page 61 and 62: cancers has been documented by Phil
Page 63 and 64: concepts of reality and destiny are
Page 65 and 66: healer intentionally through a proc
Page 67 and 68: attachments that meet humans' funda
Page 69 and 70: distinguish from mental disorders.
Page 71 and 72: take a phenomenological and ethnogr
Page 73 and 74: coming but her method is not primar
Page 75 and 76: from posters on the church notice b
Page 77 and 78: Healing services in both churches f
Page 79 and 80: Qualitative method can, however, be
Page 81 and 82: 3.5 Problems of participant and non
Page 83 and 84: difficulties that were to be presen
Page 85 and 86: isolating experience was certainly
Page 87 and 88: not necessarily addressed through t
Page 89 and 90: It may not be possible for all the
Page 91 and 92: signed to their awareness and appro
Page 93 and 94: Consequently the practice relating
Page 95 and 96: problem free. Ethnography requires
Page 97 and 98: ecommended by the Pastor. When they
Page 99 and 100: The greater proportion of females i
Page 101 and 102: difficulties involved in constructi
Page 103 and 104: musical Pentecostal style of worshi
Page 105 and 106:
The different emphases in soteriolo
Page 107 and 108:
literature may remain in its infanc
Page 109 and 110:
does not mean „Pentecostal‟ nor
Page 111 and 112:
church, the cultural differences we
Page 113 and 114:
umbrella of churches. The leaders c
Page 115 and 116:
local autonomy, the majority of Con
Page 117 and 118:
The post-1905 Pentecostals saw thei
Page 119 and 120:
the Holy Ghost). Interestingly the
Page 121 and 122:
the churches they are busy breaking
Page 123 and 124:
friends started to meet in the home
Page 125 and 126:
such as COGIC, have developed a str
Page 127 and 128:
the church group to strangers. In t
Page 129 and 130:
and illustrate the oral tradition o
Page 131 and 132:
4.8.1. Description of the inside of
Page 133 and 134:
The order of service below is based
Page 135 and 136:
forgiving note may signify partial
Page 137 and 138:
Table 3 Organisational hierarchy of
Page 139 and 140:
One of the original churches which
Page 141 and 142:
communion table. To the right of th
Page 143 and 144:
Minister used an acronym to illustr
Page 145 and 146:
GloriaPrayer for grace or collectSc
Page 147 and 148:
service whilst URC church attendees
Page 149 and 150:
mainstream Christianity, their doct
Page 151 and 152:
on the project and make requests to
Page 153 and 154:
made to integrate the white people
Page 155 and 156:
‗Garlic is good for reducing high
Page 157 and 158:
4.13 ConclusionThis chapter began w
Page 159 and 160:
organization. This role can only be
Page 161 and 162:
5.3 The Authority and Power of the
Page 163 and 164:
to become approved (professional) m
Page 165 and 166:
majority. In recent years with Brit
Page 167 and 168:
leadership although it is about aut
Page 169 and 170:
Azusa Street outpouring in 1906. Af
Page 171 and 172:
other who wal sorderly, and not of
Page 173 and 174:
Although the Holy Spirit was presen
Page 175 and 176:
Respondent 3 covered topics includi
Page 177 and 178:
Respondent 10 (below) has similar v
Page 179 and 180:
of rejection by the host community
Page 181 and 182:
ehaviour model. In this situation,
Page 183 and 184:
and they feel. It is not everybody
Page 185 and 186:
many sections of society. It also s
Page 187 and 188:
people. These qualities, however, a
Page 189 and 190:
came across as though he was presen
Page 191 and 192:
very important for this.On occasion
Page 193 and 194:
CHAPTER SIXSUFFERING AND HEALING6.1
Page 195 and 196:
mind body and spirit implies that i
Page 197 and 198:
suffering. Most of these situations
Page 199 and 200:
Respondent: Not for my sister she h
Page 201 and 202:
man to repent and return to the cre
Page 203 and 204:
clotting treatment. After the treat
Page 205 and 206:
gift of miraculous powers go with t
Page 207 and 208:
What I teach on this matter is, tha
Page 209 and 210:
The bible does not condemn, forbid
Page 211 and 212:
possibility of impending change in
Page 213 and 214:
prayer or they are rested. What is
Page 215 and 216:
„Whatever the educational attainm
Page 217 and 218:
„The message of Job is a comfort
Page 219 and 220:
he has questioned God‟s purposes
Page 221 and 222:
pray for them. In the words of seve
Page 223 and 224:
demonic forces. Explanations of spi
Page 225 and 226:
In the observation example quoted a
Page 227 and 228:
employed by the mother had she live
Page 229 and 230:
healing. Worthington et al. (2007)
Page 231 and 232:
in the account of a young mother in
Page 233 and 234:
y not having a normal relationship
Page 235 and 236:
and not related to any one cultural
Page 237 and 238:
prayer to ma e me better‟, as tho
Page 239 and 240:
Non-academic, or „popular‟ Chri
Page 241 and 242:
when the healer petitions God in pr
Page 243 and 244:
health and the ways in which hospit
Page 245 and 246:
showing lethargy in praying, failin
Page 247 and 248:
know when you have stomach ulcer yo
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
Page 255 and 256:
psychological effect of knowing her
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 and 284:
Below are brief parts of extracts p
Page 285 and 286:
service was when the speaker came t
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
Page 343 and 344:
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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