Testing Prayer : Science and Healing / Candy Gunther Brown.
2012
BR1644.7 .B76 2012eb
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Title
Testing Prayer : Science and Healing / Candy Gunther Brown.
ISBN
9780674064867
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (376 p.) : 14 halftones, 22 line illustrations, 6 tables
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674064867 doi
Call Number
BR1644.7 .B76 2012eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
234 .131
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.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Sep 2020)
In
E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2012
E-BOOK PACKAGE THEOLOGY, JUDAISM, RELIGION 2012
E-BOOK PAKET THEOLOGIE,RELIGIONSWISS., JUDAISTIK 2012
HUP eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
E-BOOK PACKAGE THEOLOGY, JUDAISM, RELIGION 2012
E-BOOK PAKET THEOLOGIE,RELIGIONSWISS., JUDAISTIK 2012
HUP eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. From Toronto Blessing to Global Awakening
CHAPTER 2. Why Are Biomedical Tests of Prayer Controversial?
CHAPTER 3. Are Healing Claims Documented?
CHAPTER 4. How Do Sufferers Perceive Healing Prayer?
CHAPTER 5. Can Health Outcomes of Prayer Be Measured?
CHAPTER 6. Do Healing Experiences Produce Lasting Effects?
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. From Toronto Blessing to Global Awakening
CHAPTER 2. Why Are Biomedical Tests of Prayer Controversial?
CHAPTER 3. Are Healing Claims Documented?
CHAPTER 4. How Do Sufferers Perceive Healing Prayer?
CHAPTER 5. Can Health Outcomes of Prayer Be Measured?
CHAPTER 6. Do Healing Experiences Produce Lasting Effects?
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index