Healing in the early church
Subtitle: the church's ministry of healing and exorcism from the first to the fifth century
By: Andrew Daunton-Fear ; foreword by David F. Wright
Publisher: Paternoster
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Milton Keynes; Colorado Springs, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 187
ISBN-13: 9781842276235
Subjects: Church history; Healing; Christianity
Description: "This monograph presents the most comprehensive investigation yet made into the healing activity of the Early Church. In contrast to early skeptics like B.B. Warfield, the author is convinced there was a vigorous healing ministry in the centuries that followed the apostles, through it fluctuated somewhat and changed the mode. Exorcism is prominently attested throughout the period. The pre-Nicene Fathers recognized its great apologetic value as a dramatic demonstration of the superiority of Jesus Christ over pagan gods. Interest in healing miracles per se appears to have been particularly characterisitc of the less education members of the Church and those who were chaste in their devotion to the cause of Christ. Amongst these group gifts of healing were found, becoming rare it seems by the mid-third century, but well attested again later in monastic circles. In the pre-Nicene period anointing with oil (in the name of Christ) was clearly an avenue of healing and, though mentioned comparatively rarely, may have been widespread as part of the regular ministry of local clergy to the sick. Baptismal healing, physical as well as spiritual, also took place. In the post-Nicene Church the shrines of the martyrs became a prominent locus of healing. Devotion to this cult may have been encouraged by Church Fathers as an acceptable alternative to magical practices. But evidence suggests syncretism did occur and martyr's relics could be invested with quasi-magical awe. Most Fathers were positive about the medical profession, seeing it as an avenue of God's work, and in the late fourth century one pioneered the hospital which then spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--King's College, London, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-178) and index.
Table of contents: title: Jesus and his contemporaries; title: The era of the apostles; title: Encounter with the Hellenistic world : the second century; title: Consolidation and complacency : early to mid-third century; title: In an era of persecution and toleration : late third-early fourth centuries; title: Withe empire at our feet : the Post-Nicene church.