Editorial May 28, 1979 Issue

Toward Christian healing

Nathan A. Talbot

A recurring and growing theme in religious news today speaks of a significant trend in today's churches: spiritual healing. Spiritual healing has stirred many individuals at the grass-roots level of Christian practice. While it has not yet become a primary doctrinal thrust in most major churches, there are nevertheless seeds of deep interest in the kind of healing practiced by the early Christian Church.

A survey of the full range of activity that would bring itself under the umbrella of healing calls for spiritual perceptiveness and discrimination. Certainly, much that is described as spiritual healing is an exercise of the human mind. Various efforts to accomplish mental healing, when based on human mentality, fall far short of true scientific healing based on an understanding of divine law. And certainly, an earnest Christian's desire to establish a basis for healing on the power of God must move beyond blind faith to an understanding of the nature of God's infinite goodness—His unfaltering care for man. To the extent Christian healing moves toward this discerning love for God, profound changes are in store for mankind.

When Mrs. Eddy predicted the practice of healing in Christ's name could become widespread by the end of the twentieth century (see Pulpit and Press, p. 22), there was little evidence within Christian churches generally to support her conclusion.

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