"Who takes spiritual healing seriously?"

In keeping with its motto, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch," the Sentinel has kept "watch" over a wide range of topics, trends, and thought-patterns since its founding ninety-three years ago.

Signs of the times in medicine, theological doctrine, education, popular culture, political upheavals, and so forth are examined. But perhaps no sign of the times bears closer scrutiny or comes nearest to the sustaining purpose of this magazine than the deepening interest in Christian healing among other denominations.

The Sentinel has continued to take careful note of this trend, in articles and editorials, in its "Second Thought" feature—and in occasional longer excerpts from interviews and articles by those in other denominations who are thinking deeply about the topic. Some of Mrs. Eddy's most prophetic writing deals with her expectation that Christian healing in various forms and approximations would grow in acceptance and practice among other denominations.

Robert Webber, a member of the United Church of Christ, is professor of New Testament Studies at Lancaster Seminary in Pennsylvania. At a seminar on "Spiritual Healing Reconsidered" at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, he spoke of historical evidence for healing in the early Christian Church.

It is important not to gloss over significant theological differences between the teachings of Christian Science and the convictions of others who are exploring Christian healing. A fuller discussion would, for example, make apparent a number of points of difference Dr. Webber has with Christian Science metaphysics and theology. But we thought Sentinel readers would be interested in excerpts from his talk which highlight the inseparability of Jesus' mission of salvation and his healing works. We are very grateful to Dr. Webber for his willingness to share some of his comments with a wider audience.

Remarks by New Testament scholar Robert Webber

The topic of the panel is "Who takes spiritual healing seriously?" and the burden of my presentation is to answer the question this way. People who take the Bible seriously should take Christian healing seriously.

And who takes the Bible seriously? It's a fair question, these days. Seriously, not necessarily literally, maybe I need to add. Who takes the Bible seriously? Part of what it means to be a Christian is to take the Bible seriously.

To be a Christian is to find in the Bible my family story, that story which tells me where I've come from, and therefore who I am, and what kind of character I should nurture. I take the authority of the Bible to be its power to shape identity and character, belief and behavior, within the Christian community.

Now, when Christians go to the Bible, what do they learn of wholeness and healing that should shape their identity and character? The answer? Lots!

Jesus was in his human project a reformer or restorer of Israel who preached the dawn of God's reign, who taught a rigorous morality and a blissful wisdom. Also, he healed. He really did.

Now, there are more inclusive and persuasive accounts of what is central to the Biblical story than healing in the usual sense of the word—especially if we include the Old Testament as we should.

There are any number of ways of capturing in a phrase or a thought what the central thrust of the Bible is. Healing finds its place in each of these versions of the Christian story. What I want to say is, if healing in the ordinary sense of the word is not the center of the Christian version of the story, still we can use it metaphorically to refer to all that the God of the Bible wants to do with the people.

I said Jesus healed—he really did. That's a historical claim. And I want to take a minute to speak about the New Testament material as a historian of that period.

There were models of healers and healing in Israel. Elijah and Elisha did Jesus-like miracles. Abraham healed Abimelech by prayer, Moses healed Miriam by intercessory prayer, and so on. People consulted priests to deal with leprosy; they consulted physicians occasionally. And there's this grand statement of Yahweh to the people of Israel in the wilderness, "I am the Lord, your healer" (Ex. 15:26 ). I take that to be an emblematic statement of Yahweh's intentionality for all people.

There was a lot of healing going on in the Mediterranean world of the first century. Among middleand upper-class Greeks, the cult of Asclepius, the god of healing, flourished magnificently. Am I being credulous to believe people were really healed through these various ministrations? I do not think so. As a historian sensitive to what's called the sociology of knowledge, I believe I shouldn't impose my sense of reality upon other cultures and times. We have really rather significant documentation from people of that time who thought they had been healed.

Some may be disturbed that this seems to take away from the uniqueness of Jesus. But Jesus' uniqueness lay elsewhere. I take it to be firm historical fact that Jesus functioned as a healer, that people saw him that way. The healing activity shows up in all strains of the gospel tradition. Jesus' worst opponents conceded that he healed, although they thought it was by the power of Beelzebub.

Jesus on one occasion sent his disciples to heal and take authority over unclean spirits. It's not exactly saying that healing was to be their sole occupation, but it does imply a continuity, a connection, between Jesus' healing work and the contemporary churches.

The early Church did continue praying for people and healing them in Jesus' name. Some of the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles look a lot like they've been touched up for propaganda purposes. But the Apostle Paul knew of healing in his churches, even once basing an argument upon the fact that the Galatians knew that signs and wonders, including healings, had been done among them (Gal. 3:1–5 ).

So if one needs good historical evidence, it's there. I realize most people don't really need that. They're willing to take the gospel accounts at face value. But for those who have the need for historical evidence, it is there. Healing was a part of the faith of Israel, an important part of Jesus' activity and of the early Church.

As important as the fact of healing in the Bible is the meaning given to the phenomenon. In religious systems I know of, healing is a sign of something, something else beyond itself. What's healing a sign of in the Bible? Let's focus on Jesus. He was compassionate, but he didn't heal just because he felt sorry for people. Why did Jesus heal? What meaning did he give to it?

Recall Jesus' words: "If by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Luke 11:20 ) ... "'Lord, even the evil spirits are subject to us in your name.'" Jesus replies, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:17, 18 ).

The meaning of Jesus' own healing activity was that it was the sign, the manifestation of God's powerful rule and reign in people's lives—if I may put it concretely, in their bodies and in their minds and spirits, as well as in their relationships and their society.

Well, for me that's good enough. I want churches to respond to this commission to heal as a way of bringing God's reign, that is, God's transforming presence, into the concrete lives of people, into their bodies, their emotions, their spirits, their relationships, their social and political contexts.

Let me conclude by reminding you of a story in the Gospel of Mark. [Jesus is] in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and the people watch him to see if he will heal the man with a withered hand. He says to the man, "Come here. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" And the people are silent. He looks around with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and says to the man, "Stretch out your hand." The man stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mark 3:1–5 ).

I take that to be an allegory of the invitation that's made to-day, to mainline churches. The invitation is, "Stretch out your hand." Stretch it out for healing, stretch it out for your own healing and the healing of other people. Respond to that invitation of Jesus. Don't just stay in the circle of skeptics and doubters.

Thank you.