Philosophy of Religion: Miracles vs The Scientific Worldview (original) (raw)
Frontiers in Psychology
As a continuation of the previous paper, Praying for a Miracle – Negative or Positive Impacts on Health Care, published in this research topic, this second paper aims at delving deeper into the same theme, but now from a simultaneously practical and conceptual approach. With that in mind, we revisit three theoretical models based on evidence, through which we can understand the role of a miracle in hospital settings and assess its impact in health contexts. For each of the models described, we seek to illustrate the possible outcomes of belief in miracles as a modality of religious coping in situations of stress and suffering experienced by patients and caregivers in the face of gloomy diagnoses on coming across the limits of medicine to revert certain illnesses (e.g., child cancer) or biological conditions (e.g., fetal malformation). We posit that the judgment about how such a mechanism is healthy or not for each of the people involved (patient, caregiver, and/or health professiona...
Hts Teologiese Studies-theological Studies, 2009
Many people plagued with incurable diseases or diseases that seem to be resistant to medical treatment, in desperation turn to preachers who claim to administer divine healing. These divine healers make certain claims, based on their interpretation of the Scriptures and a so-called revelation of God's will. They furthermore preach that healing and health are included in atonement and that nobody should be sick. Illness is an indication of a lack of faith on the part of the believer. It could also be attributed to an attack from the devil. In order to obtain healing, a process of ignoring the symptoms, followed by an unyielding and repeated confession of the healing needed, based on selected verses from the Scriptures, is proposed. This article is based on the contention that the healing practised by these divine healers is nothing more than a 'mind-over-matter' approach, leading people into confessing over and over that they have been healed. These practices are reminiscent of the utilisation of affi rmations that lead to positive thinking, which will evidently result in a change of behaviour on the part of the confessor. No indication of Godly intervention seems to be evident in this healing ministry, and neither is any submission to the will and purpose of God.
Miracles: A Christian Theological Overview
Southern Medical Journal, 2007
Miracles function centrally in Christianity, perhaps more centrally than in any other religious tradition. This is because its holy text, the Bible, tells us story after story, and many of these are about miracles. Indeed, while the Bible includes lists of commands, collections of prophetic or wise sayings, or bits of poems and songs, it is not primarily these; it is rather a grand story that stretches from the miraculous creation of the universe by the one God to its extraordinary conclusion at the last day. This one God repeatedly works miracles through many of the major Biblical figures: Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Paul, and others. Of these, Jesus' life is especially steeped in the miraculous. And, since Jesus is the central Biblical figure for Christians, it is really impossible for them to take the Biblical story seriously without also taking miracles seriously. By the same token, however, one cannot really consider miracles in Christianity without looking closely and specifically at the miracle stories in this sacred text. The "miraculous" can easily become an abstraction. Taken as such, it is easier to criticize or to dismiss summarily. To guard against this, this paper begins with careful attention to some of the Bible's miracle stories, especially Jesus', and offers suggestions about how they set patterns and standards for theological thought about the place of the miraculous in Christianity. With these patterns set, the paper proceeds in its second section to post-Biblical theological and philosophical reflection about miracles. Near its end, the paper attempts to bring the Christian tradition of miracles to bear on our contemporary world, especially the contemporary world of medicine.
Why John Wasn't Healed by Prayer: Perspectives across Disciplines
The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 2011
Patients and family members often turn to prayer in response to serious, life-threatening illness. Prayer for a miraculous cure is often the request. While prayer can keep hope alive, it may also promote unrealistic expectations that fuel demands for life-preserving technology in medically futile situations. Furthermore, if prayer does not achieve the desired results, then disappointment and disillusionment may follow and make the coping process even more difficult. We present here a case of a seriously ill man whose family and faith community prayed for his healing. John, however, was not healed. A medical internist, two psychiatrists, a sociologist, and a theologian discuss their perspectives on the apparent failure of prayer to heal John. This cross-disciplinary discussion reveals insights that we believe physicians can use when confronting such issues with patients.
Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 2016
This study examines a large collection of healing testimonies published by a Danish charismatic Christian organization. Diseases and symptoms reported to be healed through charismatic prayer healing (CPH) are counted and coded using ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The analysis shows that even in testimonies published to convince other believers about the divine powers of prayer, most accounts include relatively mundane reports of pain relief in the musculoskeletal system. Cases of complete and immediate healing of serious diseases, echoing miracles reported in the Bible, also exist in the material, but such cases appear to be predicted by variables relating to the credibility of each testimony. The notable proportion of pain relief in this supposedly highly biased Christian material is interpreted as support for a popular but poorly documented assumption that CPH mainly affects subjective symptoms responsive to expectation modulation.
Religion Medicine and Healing. An Anthology.pdf
2021
Religion, Medicine and Healing is an anthology that brings together a broad spectrum of non-‐Western healing traditions from the different kinds of shamanisms to the world religions demonstrating how each offers valuable alternatives and complements to biomedicine. Many local traditions are in danger of being forgotten, not transmitted, or even discredited by modern, orthodox biomedicine. At best, most local traditions have survived as fragmented pieces of once greater totalities. Everywhere, Western biomedicine has occupied spaces that were once the domains of local traditions and specialists. Based on the unique experience and knowledge of the contributing authors, Religion, Medicine and Healing goes beyond mere descriptive ethnography by engaging important theoretical discussions of ‘performance’, ‘aesthetics’, ‘personhood’, ‘soul’, and ‘life-‐forces’. Released in eBook format, Religion, Medicine and Healing :
Christ More Powerful Than Galen'?: The Relationship Between Medicine and Miracles
2014
Historians would once have taken these words at face value and understood Gil’s words to mean a denigration of human medicine, represented by the famous ancient authority Galen, and the exaltation of divine healing, represented by Christ. Many medical historians would now argue for a more symbiotic relationship between medicine and religion, based on a nuanced analysis of a wider range of narrative and archival sources, including hagiography.2 Careful analysis of Gil’s own life and his highly
This paper explores and discusses the miraculous powers attributed to certain figures in Judaism, a power to revive or kill, heal, or harm. This idea already appears in the Bible, but also in many places all over the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Sometimes, the action performed is passive, the sages do not ask for it directly, while sometimes it is active and deliberate. Since Judaism is known for its attitude to witchcraft, which is explicitly prohibited in the Torah, it is clear that such powers are not based on magic. If so, what forces are involved and what is their origin? In this paper, we attempt to answer these questions and discuss other issues, such as the relationship between medicine and Jewish law, the attitude of Judaism toward m aling and the power of prayer and healing as a fulfillment of the obligation to save lives. The main part of this paper examines miraculous healings in the Bible, in the Talmud and during the rabbinic period. The last part investigates the source of the righteous metaphysical power and the attitude of Judaism regarding sorcery. Finally, in the end of this paper we attempt to define the appropriate attitude toward those who seek blessings for medical healing from rabbis.