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Introduction 1 Introduction Healing in the Pentecostal Context One of the salient features of Pentecostalism is its emphasis on healing of the sick.! Indeed, most portrayals of Pentecostals, especially those in the worlds of literature, drama and film will most often paint the pic­ ture of the Pentecostal healing minister. 2 Through the medium of television, Pentecostal healing ministries have been brought into the homes of millions of Americans and others worldwide. Occasionally, on the American terrain, one still sees a tent pitched on the outskirts of town, where the revivalistic atmosphere builds to a climax which often results in a prayer line for the healing of the sick. 3 And in many American communities, a Pentecostal church is the destination of those wanting to receive prayer for healing.4 While it may be available 1 See Donald Dayton, Theological Roots ~f Pentecostalism (Peabody, MA: Hendrick­ son, 1987), p. 115. Dayton argues, "Perhaps even more characteristic of Pentecostalism than the doctrine of the baptism of the Spirit is its celebration of miracles of divine healing as part of Cod's salvation and as evidence of divine power in the church." 2 For instance, Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis' thinly cloaked picture of Pentecostal Aimee Semple McPherson, shows "Sister" involved in the healing ministry. This was also portrayed in the film version of the novel. This was of course the idea behind the comedy, Leap if Faith and in television recent television programs, such as The X Files. The film which most accurately depicts American Southern Pentecostalism, The Apos­ tle, interestingly does not emphasize the healing role of the evangelist, though the belief and practice is certainly understood as a part of the Pentecostal community in the film. 3 See David E. Harrell, All Things Are Possible: TIle Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modem America (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1975) for a study of the itinerant healing evangelists. See also Stephen J. Pullum, "Foul Demons, Come Out!" - TIle Rhetoric of Twentieth-Century American Faith Healing (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999) for a more recent treatment of these evangelists and their healing rhetoric. , One student of Pentecostalism observes that he has come to expect "a period of intense prayers for healing" as part of the pattern of Pentecostal worship services. Cf. 2 Pentecostal Healing at a growing number of mainline or liturgical churches, a person would know that type of prayer could be received at a Pentecostal church. From its inception, the Pentecostal movement has preached a gospel which includes healing for the whole person. Healing miracles were expected and the demonstrations of God's power to heal became the "drawing cards" for many missionary and evangelistic efforts. s The testimonies which arose in the Pentecostal community, and circulated in the wider geographic community, were in most cases the "word of mouth" advertising which was utilized by the growing movement. In fact, these healing miracle stories were a major reason for the explosive growth of the movement. While belief in healing is actually one of the doctrines connecting Pentecostalism to historical Christianity, in modemity,6 healing be­ came one of the doctrines which divided the movement from the mainstream, where skepticism demanded scientific proofs and verifi­ ability. Pentecostals, for the most part, did not think in those terms and saw no reason to offer such prooC In postmodernity,8 however, it is possible that healing practices may once again be the theme which Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995), p. 6. 5 See Gary B. McGee, "Pentecostal Strategies for Global Mission: A Historical As­ sessment," Called and Empowered: Global Mission in Pentecostal Perspective (ed. M.A. Dempster, B.D. Klaus, & D. Petersen; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), pp. 203- 224 and L. Grant McClung, Jr. ed., Azusa Street and Beyond: Pentecostal Missions and Church Growth in the Twentieth Century (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge, 1986.) 6 Donald K. McKim defines modernity as "the post-Enlightenment period in Europe and North America in which people turned to a scientific culture and its promises in order to fill a void left by a decline in religion" (D.K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary <if Theological Terms [Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996], p. 176). 7 See Ronald A.N. Kydd, Healing Through the Centuries; Models for Understanding (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998). Kydd delineates various models of healing theol­ ogy and practice dating from antiquity to the present. See also my review of this work inJPT 16 (Apr 2000), pp. 117-127. Here I argue that verifiability, which Kydd calls for, would have been impossible and unthinkable in the early years of the movement because of the way Pentecostals generally distrusted doctors and medicine. 8 McKim defines postmodernism as being "marked by rejection of' objective truth,' the powers of reason and claims of universality. Texts and symbols are emphasized together with a corporate 'understanding of truth that is relative to each community in which one participates" (McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Tmns, p. 214). Cf. also Stanley Grenz, Revisioning Evangelical Theology; A Fresh Agenda for the 21st Century (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1993); Henry H. Knight, III, A Future for Truth: Evangelical Theology in a Postmodern World (Nashville: Abingdon, 1997). .
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