The Origins of Faith-Healing

Sickness is one of the basic problems of mankind. Thus, there has always existed, in most religions, a tradition of miraculous cures brought about by the touch of prominent individuals, contact with a sacred relic, amulet, or place, anointing with sanctified oil or water, or any other medium presented by chance or intent to the ailing. Buddhism, hundreds of tribal sects, and scores of cults have advertised healing as an attraction. As with all magic, this is an attempt by man to control nature by means of spells, incantations, or rituals. Its effectiveness has been a matter of discussion for centuries; only now is the power of suggestion beginning to be understood. The Christian notion that certain people can heal the afflicted by means of special gifts granted them is derived from the New Testament (I Corinthians 12), in which this power is defined. Besides the Gift of Healing, among the other nine “Gifts of the Spirit” that are described are the Gift of Knowledge and Speaking in Tongues. All three have been used by faith-healers to establish their traditions.

A Plethora of Religious Flotsam

Though all the Protestant denominations have historically condemned the veneration of holy objects (relics) and their use in healing, the Catholic church—until recently—preferred to depend entirely upon the magical qualities attributed to the possessions or actual physical parts of various saints and biblical characters for healing. The Vatican not only permitted but encouraged this practice, which entered history in the third century. Catholic churches and private collections still overflow with hundreds of thousands of items. Included are pieces of the True Cross (enough to build a few log cabins), bones of the children slain by King Herod, the toenails and bones of St. Peter, the bones of the Three Wise Kings and of St. Stephen (as well as his complete corpse, including another complete skeleton!), jars of the Virgin Mary’s milk, the bones and several entire heads and pieces thereof that were allegedly once atop John the Baptist, 16 foreskins of Christ, Mary Magdalene’s entire skeleton (with two right feet), scraps of bread and fish left over from feeding the 5,000, a crust of bread from the Last Supper, and a hair from Christ’s beard—not to mention a few shrouds, including the one at Turin. One avid German collector claimed to have more than 17,000 of these objects, which inspired Pope Leo X to calculate that the man had saved himself exactly 694,779,5501 days in purgatory by such pious devotion to his hobby. But his efforts were outdone by the Schlosskirche at Halle, West Germany, which boasted 21,483 relics in its vaults.

The Royal Touch

Part of the tradition of divine healing through the touch of special persons is validated from scriptural references to such healings by Christ and the disciples and in direct instruction from Christ to his disciples in Matthew 10:8:Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils.

Never loath to adopt a good public relations idea, European royalty decided that because they claimed to rule by divine right they could also claim to have the divine ability to heal. As early as 1307, people in need of healing were visiting Philip the Fair, king of France, for his holy touch. Soon the English kings were “touching” for scrofula, a tubercular inflammation of the lymph nodes often confused with similar afflictions of the face and eyes. Thus originated the “Royal Touch,” which was said to be effective against this condition, and the disease became known in those days as “The King’s Evil.”

Charles II of England “touching” for scrofula.

  The presence and involvement of kings doubtless had an effect upon people with psychosomatic and quite imaginary ailments, and subjects eagerly provided affidavits to the monarchs in support of strong belief in this sort of healing. Paracelsus (more properly, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1490-1541) was a savant who was probably born somewhat sooner than he might have wished, considering the rapid advances in genuine scientific thinking that occurred soon after his demise. Along with descriptions of magical procedures that he took as having some value, he made observations which indicated his grasp of both human nature and correct, methodical thinking. Though he was inescapably subject to the superstitions of his day and the necessity of catering to popular prejudices—including a tendency to immolate those who doubted scriptural declarations—he was frequently able to rise above those burdens, as when he discoursed on medical matters and public attitudes. In his fourth book on diseases, A Paramiric Treatise, he closed with these words:You have seen how natural bodies, through their own natural forces, cause many things [believed to be] miraculous among the common people. Many have interpreted these effects as the work of saints; others have ascribed them to the Devil; one has called them sorcery, others witchcraft, and all have entertained superstitious beliefs and paganism. I have shown what to think of all that.

Paracelsus, who sought medicine in magic.

  Reformer Martin Luther, among others in the sixteenth century, took credit for spontaneous, miraculous cures while Paracelsus and other savants were attempting—with highly varying degrees of success—to bring out of the superstition of magic what we know today as the science of medicine. The Mormons and Episcopalians established a history of faith cures as part of their theologies, and Mary Baker Eddy founded her Christian Science church solely on the borrowed notions that pain is an illusion and that bacteria are the result rather than the cause of diseases. In the 1600s, one practitioner known as “The Stroker” was astounding England with his performances. A remarkable English author, Charles MacKay, who in 1841 wrote his classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, observed in that book thatMr. Valentine Greatraks ... practised upon himself and others a deception ... that God had given him the power of curing the king’s evil.... In the course of time he extended his powers to the curing of epilepsy, ulcers, aches, and lameness.... crowds which thronged around him were so great, that the neighboring towns were not able to accommodate them. (Italics added.)

I am grateful that MacKay recognized that Greatraks deceived both his patients and himself. As with fortune-tellers, healers often begin to believe in their own powers because their subjects tend to give them only positive feedback. Thus they can excuse and forget their many failures, and their legends grow. Greatraks made a huge impression on the public, and accumulated a fortune in the process. In this respect, he helped to establish the precedent for modern healers. And, in several other important respects, he mirrored the modern healers, as evidenced in an account written by a contemporary in 1665: A rumour of the prophet’s coming soon spread all over the town, and the hotel ... was crowded by sick persons, who came full of confidence in their speedy cure. [Greatraks] made them wait a considerable time for him, but came at last, in the middle of their impatience, with a grave and simple countenance, that shewed no signs of his being a cheat. [The host] prepared to question him strictly, hoping to discourse with him on matters that he had heard of.... But he was not able to do so, much to his regret, for the crowd became so great, and cripples and others pressed around so impatiently to be first cured, that the servants were obliged to use threats, and even force, before they could establish order among them. ... The prophet affirmed that all diseases were caused by evil spirits. Every infirmity was with him a case of diabolical possession.... He boasted of being much better acquainted with the intrigues of demons than he was with the affairs of men.... Catholics and Protestants visited him from every part, all believing that power from heaven was in his hands.... So great was the confidence in him, that the blind fancied they saw the light which they could not see—the deaf imagined that they heard—the lame that they walked straight, and the paralytic that they had recovered the use of their limbs.