Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-60).

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Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Text in Afrikaans / Every person yearns to function as an independent and integrated human being who experiences inner peace and wholeness. The search for a way of life that leads to wisdom and life knowledge has continued through the centuries and according to Hancock (2005:8) it began as early as 40 000 years ago. This research study takes up this search, describing human wholeness from a spiritual, philosophical and psychological perspective, in the context of specific essential characteristics. Together with this, applicable therapeutic approaches were researched to structure an intervention model to achieve wholeness. Wholeness therapy is an eclectic approach based on medical hypnoanalysis with added aspects of the rational-emotive behavioural therapy of Albert Ellis, choice theory of William Glasser and Victor Frankl’s logotherapy. By means of qualitative research a case study from a psychological practice was described, in which a person was enabled to experience wholeness through wholeness therapy which is described in full. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde))

This research paper is comprised of anthropological analysis concerning the experiences involved in madness, mental suffering and curing practices in the Umbanda religion. We look at indivual s narratives and individual s perceptions, along with phenomenological and interpretive analysis and the concept of body applied to a spiritual cure context. Present in this system mediated by the sacred, is the transformation process from suffering to cure, joining the ephemeris of every experience with the habitus. Discussed herein are the fundamental steps and theraputic procedures that compose the experience of this sacred cure. The results of this research enable us to understand the significance of the religious cure from every individual that experiences it. / Este estudo compreende uma análise antropológica acerca da experiência envolvendo loucura, sofrimento e Umbanda baseada na percepção dos sujeitos envolvidos com as práticas de cura religiosa. A noção de corpo aplicada a este contexto soma-se à análise interpretativa e fenomenológica que teço sobre a narrativa e a percepção dos sujeitos. A transformação da experiência de sofrimento, mediada pelo sagrado, integra as efemérides da cura, em relatos individuais, ao habitus das práticas terapêuticas na Umbanda. Como experiência do sagrado, a cura religiosa revela neste trabalho a diversidade das práticas e recursos utilizados pela Tenda Espiritual Cosme e Damião no sentido de promover a transformação e a superação do sofrimento. A análise das etapas e procedimentos que compõem os repertórios terapêuticos na Umbanda nos permite entender como se constrói o significado da cura em cada sujeito que a vivencia.

This thesis seeks to show that miracles and healing are inseparable from the Messianic task of Jesus Christ; and that in so far as He commissioned His Church to continue that Messianic task, it is reasonable to expect that miracles and healing would continue. The early history of the Church is examined for evidence confirming this expectation, and a question is asked of the contemporary Church.

Spiritual healing is a ubiquitous and fundamental part of Charismatic Christianity; it is indelibly linked to understandings of God, society, and individual identity. And yet, the phenomenon of spiritual healing—particularly its expression within North American, Abrahamic traditions—has been understudied within academia. In this thesis, I take a phenomenological approach in order to better comprehend the meaning-making process behind spiritual healing rituals amongst Charismatic Protestant Christians in Ottawa, Canada. Through a small-scale, local ethnographic study in Ottawa in which I conducted participant observation and several in-depth interviews, I explore Charismatic Christianity through the lens of lived religion. Based on a series of focused case studies, I conclude that the Charismatic cosmological worldview (one in which cosmic-wide restoration is emphasised) correlates with, and contributes to, the Charismatic emphasis on individual healing.

Spirituality in the discipline of nursing has gained popularity over the past two decades. National and provincial nursing associations and colleges expect nurses to be educated in providing spiritual health assessments and interventions in order to provide holistic nursing care. There is a paucity of research in the nursing literature on the meaning of spirituality from the perspectives of individuals who experience chronic mental illness, specifically schizophrenia. Spirituality remains an elusive construct, challenging psychiatric nurse educators, researchers and practitioners in the development of nursing curricula to guide psychiatric nursing practice. The focus of this research study was to develop a substantive theory about the experience of spirituality among individuals living with schizophrenia using grounded theory methodology in the tradition of Glaser and Strauss (1967). Forty semi-structured interviews and four focus groups were conducted with 20 participants who self-reported to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Findings: The substantive theory "spirituality as connection" indicates that spirituality for persons living with schizophrenia involves a dialectical process in which one strives to be connected to one's spiritual self (body-mind-spirit), significant others (family, friends, G o d / Higher Power, health care professionals), community (others living with a mental illness, others who are well, a faith community, the community in which participants lived), and nature, while at the same time experiencing situations and incidents that promote disconnection from these sub-themes. Strategies used by participants to achieve connection included: taking prescribed atypical anti-psychotic medications, maintaining their health and a healthy lifestyle, use of prayer / meditation, caring for self and others, and engaging in creative activities that added meaning to their life experiences. Among the 17 factors contributing to connection, exemplars are: reconnecting with one's spirit through prayer and meditation, attending drop-in centres for persons living with a mental illness, and walking / hiking in nature. Outcomes include feeling peaceful, love, contentment, being accepted and nurtured by others. Among the 14 factors contributing to disconnection, exemplars are: the effect of the illness on relationships with other people, the stigma of being in a psychiatric ward, being unemployed, and taking typical antipsychotic medications. Outcomes include feeling powerlessness, isolation, rejection and alienation. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This dissertation explores ritual healing and the issue of efficacy in early medieval Japanese Buddhism through a study of The Ritual of Shōmen Kongō for Expelling Demons and Māras. Designed by monks of the Jimon branch of the Tendai school in the 1170’s and transmitted over the thirteenth century, this ritual stood out in the field of esoteric ritual healing at the time for two significant reasons. First, its therapeutic program was centered on moxibustion (kyū), a Chinese medical modality in which the healer burns dried mugwort on multiple locations on the patient’s body. Second, it was the earliest esoteric rite created in Japan to target a single, named affliction. That affliction was “corpse-vector disease” (denshibyō), a contagious wasting disorder known to Japan through transmitted classical Chinese medical texts as well as Buddhist scriptures. Until this time, esoteric ritual healing in Japan had never before featured direct engagement with the patient’s body so prominently. What was it about corpse-vector disease, an affliction that only became known in the late twelfth century, that spurred monks to reorient esoteric ritual healing around a technology for burning the body of the sick? Why, moreover, had Jimon monks made the unprecedented move of looking beyond the tried-and-true techniques of the esoteric ritual repertoire to instead adopt a non-Buddhist medical modality? Through an examination of the extant textual sources for the rite as well as medical texts, courtier diaries, tale literature, and other ritual sources, this dissertation investigates these questions in order to reconsider the issue of efficacy in the context of Buddhist ritual healing. Challenging the longstanding notion that esoteric ritual efficacy was the object of unquestioning belief throughout the early medieval period, I define efficacy as a site of uncertainty for both healers and patients, a nexus for the convergence of vexing questions and anxieties pertaining to disease, technology, and the body. Responding to new problems posed by the emergence of corpse-vector disease, Jimon monks—the most prominent therapeutic exorcists at court in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—offered an unheard of solution that would thereafter transform healing culture in Japan for centuries. I examine how Jimon monks drew upon liturgical, doctrinal, and medical texts to reimagine the disease as well as moxibustion and the patient’s body, and consider the transformations the enactment of the rite’s prescriptions would have brought to performances of ritual healing. In so doing, I argue that efficacy cannot be understood solely through universal ascriptions of ritual power, common as those ascriptions may be throughout esoteric liturgical literature. Rather, the Jimon ritual demonstrates above all that esoteric healers had to negotiate efficacy through a specific constellation of images and material practices that engaged issues of affliction, technology, and body in compelling ways.

Arguably, the practice of spiritual healing is simple in that it requires only the human body without utilizing a known physical means of intervention. Yet, it is confounding because its mechanisms, such as the belief and ability of the healer, are unable to be measured with a device. Given that, in recent years, spiritual healing has been found to be among the most prevalent practices in the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and that studies measuring its efficacy show variable results, it is important to understand its underlying mechanisms. Researchers have been studying the practice of spiritual healing, finding that, although the spiritual healer is not considered an actual device, metaphorically speaking, evidence suggests that she or he appears to be the most refined “instrument” of measurement. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the perceptions of spiritual healers, this qualitative case study asks: what is the role of the mental imagery of ten spiritual healers and their three clients over the course of three spiritual healings? To determine this, the study presents the following subquestions: 1) How do spiritual healers construct, experience, and express mental imagery during a spiritual healing treatment? 2) What kind, if any, comparability is there across different constructions, experiences, and expressions of mental imagery during a spiritual healing as described by the spiritual healers and their clients? Among other findings, this study found that the spiritual healers constructed, experienced, and expressed mental imagery in three main ways, including 1) initial perceptions, 2) meaning and interpretations, and 3) perceptions of spiritual healing. These themes existed for all of the spiritual healers across all cases. Within each of these themes, the researcher then generated a list of subthemes that were most prevalent. This study found that the subthemes and statements were overlapping and distinct to each case. Additionally, this was further confirmed by overlaps among the spiritual healers’ perceptions as they related to each of their clients’ accounts, reiterating that the spiritual healers constructed, experienced, and expressed mental imagery that was specific to each of their clients.