Testing Prayer : Science and Healing

by Brown, Candy Gunther

• ISBN13: 9780674064676
• ISBN10: 0674064674
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

When sickness strikes, people around the world pray for healing. Many of the faithful claim that prayer has cured them of blindness, deafness, and metastasized cancers, and some believe they have been resurrected from the dead. Can, and should, science test such claims? A number of scientists say no, concerned that empirical studies of prayer will be misused to advance religious agendas. And some religious practitioners agree with this restraint, worrying that scientific testing could undermine faith. In Candy Gunther Brown's view, science cannot prove prayer's healing power, but what scientists can and should do is study prayer's measurable effects on health. If prayer produces benefits, even indirectly (and findings suggest that it does), then more careful attention to prayer practices could impact global health, particularly in places without access to conventional medicine. Drawing on data from Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, Brown reverses a number of stereotypes about believers in faith-healing. Among them is the idea that poorer, less educated people are more likely to believe in the healing power of prayer and therefore less likely to see doctors. Brown finds instead that people across socioeconomic backgrounds use prayer alongside conventional medicine rather than as a substitute. Dissecting medical records from before and after prayer, surveys of prayer recipients, prospective clinical trials, and multiyear follow-up observations and interviews, she shows that the widespread perception of prayer's healing power has demonstrable social effects, and that in some cases those effects produce improvements in health that can be scientifically verified.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. ix
Introduction: The Magisteria of Science and Religion	p. 1
From Toronto Blessing to Global Awakening: Healing and the Spread of Pentecostal-Charismatic Networks	p. 21
Why Are Biomedical Tests of Prayer Controversial?	p. 64
Are Healing Claims Documented?	p. 99
How Do Sufferers Perceive Healing Prayer?	p. 155
Can Health Outcomes of Prayer Be Measured?	p. 194
Do Healing Experiences Produce Lasting Effects?	p. 234
Conclusion: What Science Can Show about Prayer	p. 275
Appendix: Healing Survey	p. 293
Notes	p. 299
Acknowledgments	p. 351
Index	p. 353
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