Why this course?  Healing was a significant part of the ministry of Jesus.  However, in the twentieth century the church laid claim to the soul exclusively and medical science laid claim to the body exclusively.  As we enter a new millennium research makes clear that the mind has a significant impact upon the body.  It shows that a person’s belief system will influence and may predict the outcome of a person’s health.   Community, love, faith and charity are seen as having a significant impact on one’s health.  Intercessory prayer seems to have a positive influence.  All of these facts point to the important role the church must once again realize in health and healing.

The goals of this class:  There are four goals to this class.  First is to correlate mind/body medicine and the findings of science with the mystical practices and theology of the Christian tradition.  Second is to enter into dialog with each other.  People from many different professions tend to enroll in the class. The cross fertilization of different fields of study and different professional experiences is very important at this stage.  This is to experience healing ourselves and experience healing of others.  Fourth is to assess the role of the church and its mission of health and healing in the world. 

Requirements:

1. The first paper is due February 27.  It is to be a four to five page interview with someone or an account of your own experience(s) around spirituality and healing.   After a description of the experience the paper is to reflect on it in light of one or more of the healings of Jesus.

2. The second paper is due March 27.  It is to be an eight to ten page paper, which takes a particular area of health where mind, body, and spirituality relate.  The student is to find and review two research studies in that area.  Then the student is to connect that research to the Christian faith.  This could include theological and scriptural reflection and correlation with certain prayer practices.

3. The third paper is due May 1.  It is to be an eight to ten page paper, which develops a program of spirituality, health and healing that, could be used in a local church or integrates spiritual practices in a medical or mental health setting.

The class will consist of didactic presentations by the instructor, a chance to experience some spiritual practices, open discussion, and student presentations.   A brief outline of the material that will be included is the following:

1. An introduction to spirituality, health and healing.

1. The current economic climate in health care and the importance of prevention of illness and the enhancement of recovery. 
2. Future issues in health care e.g. the aging of the population.
3. The importance of religion as the ultimate context for health care.

2. A brief history of health and healing.

1. Healing in the Old Testament
2. Healing in the New Testament and God’s grace.
3. Healing in the Hellenistic world (Aesculapius, gnosticism, Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates.)
4. Brief history of health and healing to the modern day.

3. Three models of medicine.

1. The body as machine and the search for the magic bullets.  (Causal, deterministic)
2. The body as ecology and the search for harmony and well-being.  (The mind and personality is a factor in healing a person.)
3. The body as soul, and the search for divine union.  (The mind is a factor in healing but is not bound by time or space.  The sense of the presence of God in healing.)

4. The effects of "stress" on the body

1. "Stress" and the mind/body connection.
2. Stress and heart disease, etc.
3. Stress and the immune function
4. Stress and pain
5. The causes of stress and ways of reducing stress from a medical and mental health point of view:  "Relaxation response" and cognitive therapy.
6. Ways of reducing stress from a Christian point of view:  Apophatic spirituality, which is the exercise of pure faith and resting in God beyond concepts and particular acts.  Kataphatic spirituality is the exercise of the cognitive mind enlightened by faith using symbols, reason, and imagination to assimilate truth. 

5. Religion and mental health

1. Well-being, depression, alcoholism and drug abuse, delinquency, marital stability and anxiety.
2. The importance of prayer, community, a sense of greater meaning and purpose for one’s life through Christian practices.

6. Suffering, pain, aging and death.  How Christianity offers a context of meaning via the "dark night of the soul,’ visions and dreams, the allegorical interpretation of the scriptures as "The Way of the Heart,"  and union with God.   

7. Intuitive healing, psychic phenomena, non-local and non-temporal healing.  The practice of discernment in healing and the use of intercessory prayer.

8. The role of the church in healing historically and currently.  Health as a community issue and not an individual issue.  Stewardship of the body. 

*Sanford, John.  Healing Body and Soul:  the Meaning of Illness in the New Testament and in Psychotherapy.  Louisville:  John Knox, 1992.

*Benson, Herbert.  Timeless Healing:  The Power and Biology of Belief.  New York:  Scribner, 1996.

*Dossey, Larry.  Healing words:  The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine.  San Francisco:  HarperCollins, 1993.

*Remen, Rachel Naomi.  Kitchen Table Wisdom:  Stories that Heal.  New York:  Riverhead Books, 1996.

*Greenberger, Dennis and Padesky, Christine.  Mind Over Mood. The Guilford Press.  1995

*Sapolsky, Robert.  Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.  W.H. Freeman and Company.

*Thompson, Marjorie.  Soul Feast.  Westminster/John Knox Press.  1995

*Fox, Matthew, ed.  Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen.  Bear and Company.  1985.

*  Fishman, Scott.  The War on Pain.  HarperCollins Publishers.  2000.

*Kelsey, Morton.  Healing and Christianity.  Minneapolis:  Augsburg Press, 1995.

*Pert, Candace.  Molecules of Emotion.  Simon and Shuster.  1997.