Description: Holiness denominations at the turn of the twentieth century were characterized by three teachings: sanctification, divine healing, and dispensational views of the second coming.
Faith Cure explores the divine healing movement between 1870 and 1920, examining its practitioners, its cultural milieu, its biblical and theological foundations, and its results. Hardesty concludes with a discussion of spiritual healing today and its connection with the broader cultural search for alternative medicines.
"Nancy Hardesty's Faith Cure is a well-written and fascinating study of divine healing movements in both the Holiness and Pentecostal movements. This book is an important contribution to an area of study that has been largely neglected in the past. I highly recommend it to both scholars and general readers." — Vinson Synan, Dean of the School of Divinity, Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia
"Faith healing brings to mind emotion-charged Pentecostal revivals in the years after World War II. In this stunning work, Hardesty deftly explores a different strand of the story, one often ignored if not forgotten. Drawing on a vast array of primary sources, she shows how the Wesleyan Holiness movement of the nineteenth century, in addition to its emphasis on an experience of sanctification after salvation, generated a passionate interest in healing.
Based on the epistle of James’s insistence that the prayer of faith will heal the sick, not on Pentecostal gifts of the Spirit, healing, as Hardesty ably demonstrates, once pervaded Holiness groups like the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Hardesty probes the hitherto untold story of Holiness healing homes that drew thousands when hospitals were few. She also convincingly shows how scores of sanctified women had viable healing ministries in a day when ordination was restricted to men.
Hardesty also wrestles with the thorny issue of how Holiness advocates dealt with failure, and, in a careful analysis, she tracks the decline of faith cure to the rise of medicine as a science, greater public acclaim given to Pentecostal healers, and passing of a generation of those committed to both sanctification and healing.
In a brilliant conclusion, Hardesty links the recent recovery of a holistic approach to medicine and the growing awareness among physicians that deep faith makes a difference with patients to Holiness faith cure.
Extraordinarily well-written, this book is a “must-read” for anyone interested in American religious life and the intricate ties between faith and health." — Charles H. Lippy, LeRoy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Specifications:
- ISBN: 9781565637146
- Publisher: Hendrickson Publications
- Date: 2003
- Binding: Paperback
- Pages: 176
- Actual Weight: 9 ounces
- Dimensions: 6" X 9"