Faith healing refers to processes of restoration of well-being through religious rituals and submission to divine intervention. It involves the conviction that mystical power can remedy mental and physical affliction either through material medicines or without them. Private or communal rituals and devotion intended to influence supernatural beings to miraculously counteract affliction are key features of faith healing. However, the afflicted may or may not actively solicit the mystical healing as their faith makes them take for granted the solicitude of God or other divine beings. Believers may expect divine beings to reciprocate people’s trust, faith, and obedience with compassion and well-being. Similarly, human agents such as doctors or faith healers may not necessarily mediate the healing process (Dickinson 1995, p. 97). Faith healing is therefore a type of religious, magical, or symbolic healing resulting from direct or indirect ritual manipulation of supernatural forces (cf....
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress and coping. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Appiah-Kubi, K. (1981). Man cures, God heals: Religion and medical practice among the Akans of Ghana. New York: Friendship Press.
Berg, E. P. (1980). Faith healing. Australian Family Physician, 9(5), 303–307.
Billings, J., & Hashem, F. (2010, April). What does the salutogenic approach offer for mental health promotion and positive mental health in older people? EU Thematic conference “Mental Health and Well-being in Older People-Making it Happen”, Madrid, European Community.
Clarke, D. (2003). Faith and hope. Australasian Psychiatry, 11(2), 164–168.
Csordas, T. J. (2002). Body/meaning/healing. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Csordas, T., & Lewton, E. (1998). Practice, performance, and experience in ritual healing. Transcultural Psychiatry, 35, 435–512.
Dickinson, R. (1995). God does heals today: Pastoral principles and practices of faith healing. Carlisle: Paternoster Press.
Dow, J. (1986). Universal aspects of symbolic healing: A theoretical synthesis. American Anthropologist, 88(1), 56–69.
Kleinman, A. (1980). Patients and healers in the context of culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Levin, J. S. (2009). How faith heals: A theoretical model. Explore, 5(2), 77–96.
Levin, J. S., & Mead, L. (2008). Bioenergy healing: A theoretical model and case series. Explore, 4(3), 201–209.
Mulemi, B. A. (2010). Healing. In F. A. Irele & B. Jeyifo (Eds.), The Oxford encyclopaedia of African thought (Vol. 1, pp. 438–440). New York: Oxford University Press.
Peacock, J. (1984). Symbolic and psychological anthropology: The case of Pentecostal faith healing. Ethos, 12(1), 37–53.
Sullivan, L. (1987). Healing. In L. Jones (Ed.), The encyclopedia of religion (Vol. 6, pp. 226–234). New York: Macmillan.
Sykes, J. B. (Ed.). (1976). The concise Oxford dictionary of current English (6th ed.). Oxford, UK: The Clarendon Press.
Taylor, S. E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. American Psychologist, 38, 1161–1173.
Taylor, S. E. (1989). Positive illusions: Creative self-deception and the healthy mind. New York: Basic.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mulemi, B.A. (2020). Faith Healing. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_9160
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_9160
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24347-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24348-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences