Amanda Porterfield offers a survey of ideas, rituals, and experiences of healing in Christian history. Jesus himself peformed many miracles of healing, and Christians down the ages have seen this as a prominent feature of their faith. Indeed, healing is one of the most constant themes in the long and sprawling history of Christianity. Changes in healing beliefs and practices offer a window into changes in religious authority, church structure, and ideas about sanctity, history, resurrection, and the kingdom of God. Porterfield chronicles these changes, at the same time shedding important new light on the universality of religious healing. Finally, she looks at recent scientific findings about religion's biological effects, and considers the relation of these findings to age-old traditions about belief and healing.

About the Author
Amanda Porterfield is Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion at Florida State University. She is the author of The Transformation of American Religion: The Story of a Late-Twentieth-Century Awakening (OUP 2001).

Reviews
...a significant contribution to the practice of Christian healing... * Christopher MacKenna, Theology Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195157185
Author Amanda Porterfield
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 164mm * 239mm * 22mm