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The Healing Myth: A Critique of the Modern Healing Movement

by J. Keir Howard

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2013

ISBN: 9781620320624

(3)

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Overview

What is the role of the church in ministering to the sick? This book argues that it is not what is now called the “healing ministry,” with its frequent claims of remarkable cures from physical illness. J. Keir Howard asserts that little critical attention seems to have been paid to the validity of these claims, which, if genuine, would be producing clearly observable effects on the levels of morbidity and mortality in society. Similarly, he claims the important ethical and moral questions the movement raises have also been very largely ignored. In this volume he explores how a huge edifice of muddled theology, together with highly questionable practice, has been built upon very shaky foundations. It is the purpose of this book to examine seriously the claims and teaching of the modern healing movement, as well to explore any possible dangers, in order to encourage Christian people, both ordained and lay, to exercise a more critical approach to the healing movement. The book concludes by outlining a framework for a return to a more biblical emphasis on proper pastoral care in the church’s ministry to the sick.

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Addresses the moral and ethical questions surrounding the “healing ministry”
Critically analyzes the validity of claims, and the responsibilities of the church
Provides a framework for pastoral care in ministry to the sick
Offers clarification on the use of the term healing in Scripture

The Healing Phenomenon
Basic Approaches: Complementary or Alternative
Healing in Practice
Assessing the Evidence
Investigating False CLaims
Caring or Curing? The Church’s Ministry

The grace and fluidity of Howard’s writing makes this a highly accessible text. Informative and thought provoking, it poses an effective challenge to the widely held but largely unexamined belief that the Christian church should have a healing ministry.

—Tamar Posner, integrative psychotherapist

Howard’s loss to the clinical field is now being balanced by his contribution to setting the record straight in his analysis of Scripture and the clarification of what constituted ‘healing’ in biblical times. . . . Despite being replete with scholarly reference and density, the book is easy to read. The case studies are particularly moving and poignant and force us to confront our own unexamined superstitions about the power of prayer.

—Nerys C. Parry, registered psychologist

In this well-written book, The Healing Myth, Keir Howard challenges much of the woolly thinking and exaggerated claims found in the contemporary church about the subject of Christian healing ministries. I believe it is important particularly for proponents of such ministries, faith healing, exorcisms, etc. . . . With a lifetime of research in medicine, particularly in epidemiology, as well as a second PhD in New Testament, Howard is well placed to consider the true nature of Christian healing ministry.

—Murray D. Gow, senior minister, St. Andrews First Presbyterian Church, Auckland

Title: The Healing Myth: A Critique of the Modern Healing Movement
Author: J. Keir Howard
Publisher: Wipf & Stock
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 122
Christian Group: Anglican
Resource Type: Monograph
Topic: Ministry Resources

J. Keir Howard is a retired consultant physician and Anglican priest with doctorates in both medicine and theology. He has been involved in academic teaching, as well as holding senior hospital and public medical posts, and remains active in the ministry of the Anglican Church. He is author of several books, including Medicine, Miracle and Myth in the New Testament (2010).

Joshua White
3/14/2022
Very sad! The author sounds more like a sullen atheist than a Christian. His hermeneutics are incredibly dangerous, and his conclusions speak volumes concerning his clear bias against Charismatic theology. His treatment of the ongoing validity of Spiritual Gifts is embarrassing, and demonstrates an unwillingness to engage in contemporary scholarship. I would love the author to read the work of Sam Storms and Jack Deere rather than creating straw man arguments that no sincere believer actually holds to.
Reply
Joshua White
3/14/2022
depdad
4/25/2019
Thank you all for your reviews. You've convinced me not to buy the book.
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Jai Reid
3/1/2019
It is striking that a someone with a theology doctorate could talk about Jesus healing virtually no one of diseases that could not be explained away as pyscho-somatic (this is from the samples pages). Has he read the gospels? What about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years? The author specifically mentions leprosy and that Jesus merely "declared [them] clean" rather than healing them. How is it that the 10 lepers were healed on the way and immediately noticed and one came back? Obviously a physical change had occurred. Besides the fact that it was Jesus who told people to go to priests to declared them clean, so obviously that wasn't what He was doing! Healing a man blind from birth? (That one cannot be explained by pressing on an over-ripe cataract). The healing of the man with the withered hand? (That involves a physically visible change). The restoration of an ear that was cut off? Raising three different people from the dead (in Lazarus' case after three days in the tomb)? While there are cases where people's lives hang by a thread and their breath is scarcely discernible, I think we need to give a little more credence to the basic knowledge of life and death held by the Jewish people, who I'm sure were not in the habit of burying the living. Also, he claims that healing is not central -- perhaps forgetting that Jesus in Luke 4:18 tied the "recovery of sight to the blind" into his central statement of mission.
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Al Sosa
5/25/2014
It would not be fair for me to write a review about a book that I have not read. But reading only the sample pages tells me that if an author calls a biblical event, whether it is historical or future, a myth, like healing, then this author has not experienced 'the myth' he calls. I cannot buy this book because I have experienced healing without anyone touching my body! Jesus is Lord of the body as He is of the soul of the human believer. I'm sorry that this book should call healing a possible myth. If I am being unfair to the author then I will apologize, but right now my healing experience is not a myth but a factual reality. I not only know Jesus as Lord but also as healer of His temple! This is the Gospel, not myth. Blessings to all. . . Eis Cristos Al Sosa
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Phillip Scott
5/16/2014
So according to this author, Jesus really didn't heal people. The people only "thought" they had physical ailments and diseases; "psychosomatic", and "hysterical neuroses" = stress, are the words the author uses. I choose to believe Acts 10:38 and not this book.
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