Jesus as Healer: A Gospel for the Body

by Jan-Olav Henriksen, Karl Olav Sandnes

Overview

Healings and miracles play a prominent role in the New Testament accounts of Jesus' life and ministry. In the Western Christian tradition, however, Jesus' works of healing tend to be downplayed and understood as little more than a demonstration of his divine power.

In this book Jan-Olav Henriksen and Karl Olav Sandnes draw on both contemporary systematic theology and New Testament scholarship to challenge and investigate the reasons for that oversight. They constructively consider what it can mean for Christian theology today to understand Jesus as a healer, to embrace fully the embodied character of the Christian faith, and to recognize the many ways in which God can still be seen to have a healing presence in the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467444798
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/11/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	978 KB

About the Author

Jan-Olav Henriksen is professor of systematic theology and philosophy of religion at Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo, Norway. Among his other books are Life, Love, and Hope: God and Human Experience and Desire, Gift, and Recognition: Christology and Postmodern Philosophy.

Karl Olav Sandnes is professor of New Testament at Norwegian School of Theology. His other books include The Gospel 'According to Homer and Virgil' and The Challenge of Homer: School, Pagan Poets and Early Christianity.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations x

Introduction 1

I Remembering Jesus as Healer: Perspectives from New Testament Scholarship

Introductory Remarks to the New Testament Part 9

The Evidence of the Canonical Gospels: A Survey 14

Healing Stories 14

Summaries 18

Conclusions 19

Jesus and Contemporary Healers 21

Jesus as Healer in Current New Testament Scholarship 25

A Healer Who Did Not Cure Diseases (John J. Pilch and John Dominic Crossan) 26

Assessing the Pilch-Crossan Model 30

Diagnostics Based on Ancient Texts 33

Inspecting "Meaning Restored to Life" 36

Allegories and Parables? 38

A First-Century Psychiatrist? (Don Capps) 40

Sigmund Freud's Fräulein Elisabeth von R. and the Paralytics of the Gospels 42

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Two Blind Men of the Gospels 44

Assessing Capps's Model 45

The Power of Faith - Placebo? (Gerd Theissen) 49

Assessment of Theissen's Model 51

The Absence of Prayer in Jesus' Healings? 55

A Cultural Phenomenon (Pieter F. Craffert) 58

Assessing Craffert's Model 59

ASC Experiences 60

A Summary of the Works Presented 61

Raising the Dead - Implications for Jesus as Healer? 64

Jesus as Healer in the Gospels 70

Acts of Mercy and Compassion: "I Want!" 70

The Time Has Come: The Kingdom of God and Jesus' Healings 74

Healing and Proclamation 75

Fighting Evil Powers and Restoring Life Intended 77

Summarizing the Emic Perspective 79

Jesus Still a Healer through His Disciples 81

Paul - A Healer Suffering from Sickness? 81

"Jesus Christ Heals You" - The Book of Acts 85

The Relationship between Jesus' Healings and the Apostles' Healings 86

The Healing Stories in the Book of Acts and History 89

Jesus' Commission of His Disciples during His Ministry 92

Mark's Two (Secondary) Endings 93

Matthew 28:19-20: The Commission Text Par Excellence 94

Luke 24:47-40: Empowered by the Spirit 95

New Testament Apocrypha 97

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas 98

Jesus at Work in the Healing Stories of the Apocryphal Acts 101

Healing in the Early Church 105

Ambivalence 105

Jesus at Work 106

Healing as Supporting Evidence 107

Mission and Healing 108

Toward a Theology of Jesus as Healer 113

From Jesus' Healing Ministry to Posterity 114

Faith: Seeking a Gift 116

A Comprehensive Image of Humanity: Incarnation 118

"From the Beginning": Restoring Creation 120

Prophetic Symbolic Acts 121

Jesus the Healer - Exclusive? 124

II Jesus as Healer and Contemporary Theology

Approaches to Healing and Related Topics in Science and Theology 133

What Is Healing? 136

Healing Researched under "Scientific" Conditions and in Contemporary Discussion 136

LeShan's Study of Healers 139

Spiritual Healing in a Scholarly Perspective - Some Further Notes on Religion, Science, and Placebo 147

Christian Healing and Spiritual Healing 152

Basic Features 152

Some Features of How Healing Has Been Understood in the History of Christianity 161

The Modern Embarrassment regarding Healing Miracles - and Overcoming It 169

Friedrich Schleiermacher 170

Rudolf Bultmann 173

Karl Barth 176

Jürgen Moltmann 183

Recent Discussion about Miracles 187

Are Healings Miracles? Preliminary Considerations 187

Soundings in the Contemporary Discussion 190

Terence Nichols 194

Keith Ward 194

Wolfhart Pannenberg 195

Ilkka Pyysiäinen 196

John Polkinghorne 197

Niels Henrik Gregersen and Divine Action in the World 201

Stephen Pattison's Criticism of Christian Spiritual Healing 203

Who Is the God of Healing? Pattison versus MacNutt 206

Summary of and Comments on Pattison's Criticisms of Healing 209

Acceptance of Healing from an Empirical and Theological Point of View 218

Healing within a Christological Framework 221

The Status of Jesus: Exceptional or Exemplary? 224

Healing as Sign: Presence and Revelation of God 228

Healing as Grace 231

Healing and Faith 234

Healing in the Wider Context of Christology, Christianity, and New Age 242

Conclusion: The Healing Christ - A Vision for Contemporary Christology 245

Concluding Considerations about the Theological Understanding of Jesus as Healer 248

Bibliography 254

Index of Names 264

Index of Subjects 266

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Texts 269

Editorial Reviews

Graham Twelftree
-- London School of Theology
"Henriksen and Sandnes have here brought spiritual healing from out of the shadows of modern medicine and theology into the center of Jesus' ministry and the Christian gospel. . . . Miracle and healing are redefined, God's gracious activity across religions is affirmed, and the gospel is shown to be truly incarnated. This is a rich and challenging book that advances the conversation for students, practitioners, and academics."

Celia Deane-Drummond
-- University of Notre Dame
"This book is an example of fine scholarship at its very best: two erudite scholars from different disciplines -- New Testament studies and philosophical theology -- combine their talents in a joint work on Jesus' healing ministry and its significance for contemporary theology. This fascinating and richly diverse text covers many topics connected with healing, but perhaps is most persuasive because it pushes readers beyond their current experience. . . . A convincing case for the continued significance of the healing aspects of Jesus' ministry."

From the Publisher