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Religions, Medicines, and Healing Consultation of the AAR IN THIS ISSUE Teaching about May 2004 Published by the American Academy of Religion Vol. 19, No. 3 Religions, Medicines, and www.aarweb.org Healing Teaching Religion and Healing . .ii Teaching about Linda L. Barnes Religion, Healing, and the Embodied Subject . .iii Suzanne J. Crawford Religions, Medicines, Teaching Religion and Healing in a Southern University . .iv Kaja Finkler and Healing Spirituality of Healing . .v Kwok Pui-lan Linda Barnes, Boston University Shamanism and Religious Healing . .vi Guest Editor Michael Winkelman and Christopher Carr From the Editor’s Desk Shamanism and Religious Healing . .vii Islamic civilization. It is possible to discern European languages and went through 40 Amanda Porterfield two interdependent spheres of healing and editions between the 15th and 19th cen- medicine in Islam: a science of medicine turies. His magnum opus, Al-Hawi or the Magic, Witchcraft, and that develops on the basis of rational Compendium, was one of the most compre- Healing . .viii inquiry, observation, and clinical experience; hensive medical texts written before the Arvilla Payne-Jackson and traditions of healing that evolve from 19th century and was a standard reference ethico-moral, spiritual, and metaphysical for physicians in Europe. It covered subjects Teaching Chicanos/as and ideas. Within the Islamic ethos, medical such as surgery, clinical medicine, skin dis- Religion: Traditions and practice must be based on humanly con- eases, diet, and hygiene. Al-Razi was also a Transformations . .ix structed theories, observation, and experi- master of psychosomatic medicine and mentation — processes given to rational treated maladies of the psyche and the body. Lara Medina investigation and revision. Healing, howev- His work Spiritual Physics offers prescrip- er, entails a synchronicity of intelligent tions on how to overcome moral and psy- Medicines, Healing, and Tazim R. Kassam human effort through medical science, as chological illnesses that ruin health. Spiritualities: A Cross- well as superrational, divine grace received Cultural Exploration . .x Spotlight on Teaching Editor through prayer and ethical conduct. The other towering figure in Islamic sci- Paula Arai Healing in Islam is thus construed within a ences, Ibn Sina, came to be regarded as the holistic paradigm of the human being as greatest Muslim writer on medicine. His constituting a complex unity of body, encyclopedic work, Al-Qanun or the Selected Resources . .xii EVEN YEARS HAVE PASSED mind, and soul, a microcosm of creation. Canon encompassed anatomy, diseases, since Linda Barnes, the guest edi- hygiene, disorders of the limbs, and herbal tor of this issue of Spotlight on S Accordingly, an ideal physician must not compounds and other medicines. Together Teaching, invited me to discuss healing only be equipped with scientific acumen with Al-Razi’s Compendium, Ibn Sina’s Al- The AAR Committee on practices in Islam for a session on but also be a person of ethical and spiritual Qanun “was used as a basic text in Europe’s Teaching and Learning (Eugene “Religion and/as Healing.” The aim of integrity. These multiple requirements of medical schools almost until the beginning V. Gallagher, Chair) sponsors that panel was to explore the connec- intellectual rigor, humanistic faith, and of modern times.” (Howard Turner, Science Spotlight on Teaching. It appears tions between religions, medicines, and noble character are stated by the 12th cen- in Medieval Islam, 1995: 136). Ibn Sina also twice each year in Religious healing from the viewpoint of different tury author, Nizami-i Arudi of Samarkand did pioneering work on the psychological Studies News—AAR Edition and religious traditions. Linda argued con- (d. 1174) as follows: “And no physician can aspects of illness. Perceiving the integral focuses on teaching and learn- vincingly that while medical anthropol- ing around a particular theme, be of tender disposition if he fails to recog- relationship between the environment, ogy was a well-established and respected concern, or setting. nize the nobility of the human soul; nor of emotional states, and physical health, he discipline within anthropology, no com- wise nature unless he is acquainted with advocated vigorous exercise and listening to parable subdiscipline existed within the Editor Logic; nor can he excel in acumen unless he music for maintaining good health. Ibn field of the study of religion. Tazim R. Kassam be strengthened by God’s aid; and he who Sina’s greatest treatise on healing, however, Syracuse University is not acute in conjecture will not arrive at was a religio-philosophical work called Barnes’s efforts to gain formal recognition correct understanding of any ailment, for he Kitab al-Shifa, or the Book of Healing. The for such a subfield, and to create institution- Guest Editor must derive his indications from the pulse, focus of this metaphysical work was to al academic forums that would give sus- which has a systole, a diastole, and a pause show how to cure the soul of its diseases of Linda L. Barnes tained and systematic attention to healing intervening between these two move- ignorance that alienate it from true self- Boston University practices within diverse religions in relation ments.” (Quoted in Seyyed H. Nasr, Science knowledge and God. to modern biomedical practices, have culmi- and Civilization in Islam, 1968: 185). nated in several forthcoming publications, a In sum, healing in the Islamic tradition has Spotlight on Teaching consultation on Religions, Medicines, and The central figure of learning and healing in the following characteristics: it applies to is published by the Healing at the Annual Meeting of the AAR, Islam is called hakim. Traditionally a person every level of human existence from the American Academy of Religion the establishment of the Boston Healing of encyclopedic knowledge, the hakim was physical to the spiritual; it is incumbent on 825 Houston Mill Road Landscape Project that she directs at once scholar, scientist, musician, physi- Muslims to understand the nature of the Suite 300 (www.bmc.org/pediatrics/special/bhlp), and this cian, and spiritual guide. Many of the best- cosmos, including the human body, and to issue of Spotlight on Teaching, which profiles Atlanta, GA 30329 known Muslim philosophers such as Al- apply this knowledge to secure health and various pedagogical attempts to introduce Visit www.aarweb.org Razi (b. 865), Ibn Sina (b. 980), and Ibn well-being; and finally, healing has an ethico- students to healing traditions cross-culturally. Rushd (b. 1126) were also great physicians. moral precondition: a true physician cannot Al-Razi’s famous work, On Smallpox and be a healer without trustworthy conduct and A range of beliefs and approaches to healing Measles, was translated into Latin and other spiritual wisdom. ❧ and health can be found in the history of Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Teaching Religion and Healing Linda L. Barnes, Boston University Guest Editor introduce healing as a dimension of reli- gious studies or, as Suzanne Crawford describes it, “healing as a religious activity.” Healing permeates virtually every religious culture One can also use healing to illustrate a dif- around the world, and can occur within and outside ferent course theme. For example, I have taught a course on methods in religious “ of conventional religious boundaries. studies, using scholarship on healing to demonstrate applications of methods. Interdisciplinary courses, such as the anthro- tional healers). I also engage residents and As a result, death can only represent failure, pology of religion, would also lend them- faculty in developing teaching cases that and is often experienced as such by biomed- selves well to this approach. Indeed, one involve complex medical, cultural, and reli- ical clinicians. ” might see whether a medical anthropologist gious issues, drawing on their own clinical is on the faculty of one’s school, and explore experience. Paradigms of Suffering and Affliction the possibility of developing a course Linda L. Barnes is an Assistant Professor at together. For that matter, one could sit in I find that developing an awareness of the Paradigms of Suffering and Affliction repre- Boston University School of Medicine. She on related courses to get up to speed on local cultural groups present in a setting is a sent explanations for why suffering and directs urban fieldwork related to culturally another discipline’s approach to the topic. useful step toward exploring world tradi- affliction happen. Many traditions, for and religiously grounded forms of comple- tions and related practices in ways that can example, explain Suffering as the fruits of mentary and alternative medicine used by One can use healing as the organizing make the course material more immediate earlier actions, whether as a sign of judg- local cultural communities, incorporating this theme of a course in multiple ways. As the for students. Whenever possible, I photo- ment, punishment, and/or testing. The work into teaching medical students, resi- essays in this issue of Spotlight richly demon- graph such practices or purchase related explanation may reiterate core narratives of dents, fellows, and faculty. Barnes co-founded strate, well-designed comparative courses paraphernalia, and use both in my teaching. a tradition: some early individuals behaved and chairs the Religions, Medicines, and Healing Consultation of the AAR. prove highly effective. If focusing on a par- Such examples range from the festival
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