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Healing

Healing

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Healing. In the religious perspective, disease and dis-ease are never far removed from each other. Since an aim of religions is to offer the means through which health in body, mind, and spirit may be attained (unless countervailing causes supervene, such as karma, the will of God, invasion by demons, etc.). Thus Augustine observed succinctly that ‘all diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to demons’; and the contest with demons is familiar in the descriptions of the healing of particular disorders in the ministry of Jesus, which was to him (and others) a demonstration that the dunamis (power or dynamic) of God is active in the world.

The contest against disease was continued in Islam, through which Greek medical knowledge was preserved and extended. al-Ṭibb (‘medicine’) became a major part of the Muslim commitment to ʿilm (knowledge)—e.g. al-Rāzī (Rhazes).

Indian medical science is known as Ayur veda (‘the knowledge of longevity’), and is based on a theory of five elements (bhūta) and three humours (dośa), wind, bile, and phlegm. Health consisted in maintaining all in balance and equilibrium, correcting imbalance by an array of herbal and other remedies. Thus health matters are not isolated from the general condition of life. Carakasamhita is a classic text on medicine (compiled in the 1st cent. BCE; Suśruta Samhita is a slightly later text on surgery): it combines health and medical matters with general instructions for the achieving of a good and satisfactory life.

The same catholicity of attitude is evident in China, where the quest for immortality in religious Taoism (Tao-chiao/Daojiao) is not restricted to an endeavour to emancipate a self from society or a soul from a body. Taoists seek to relate the microcosm—which is present in the body in the three life-principles of breath (ch'i/qi), vitality especially in semen (ching/jing), and spirit (shen)—to the macrocosm, so that the whole of life, internal and external, becomes an unresistant (wu-wei) expression of that which alone truly is, namely, the Tao. It would thus be impossible to isolate some part of disease or disorder from its context.

Healing, therefore, in all religions takes place in a much larger context of life and its purposes, and remains closely related to modern insights into the psychosomatic unity of the human entity.

For the Buddhist ‘Master of Healing’, see BHAIṢAJYAGURU.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Healing." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Healing." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Healing.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Healing." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Healing.html

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Healing

Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary | 1986 | Copyright

319. Healing (See also Medicine.)

  1. Achilles’ spear had power to heal whatever wound it made. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad ]
  2. Agamede Augeas’ daughter; noted for skill in using herbs for healing. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 11]
  3. Ahmed, Prince possessed apple of Samarkand; cure for all diseases. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights ]
  4. Amahl cripple cured by accompanying Magi to the Christ child. [Am. Opera: Amahl and the Night Visitors, Benét, 28]
  5. Ananias Lord’s disciple restores Saul’s vision. [N.T.: Acts 9:17 19]
  6. balm in Gilead metaphorical cure for sins of the Israelites. [O.T.: Jeremiah 8:22]
  7. Bethesda Jerusalem pool, believed to have curative powers. [N.T.: John 5:2–4]
  8. copper Indian talisman to prevent cholera. [Ind. Myth.: Jobes, 369]
  9. coral cures madness; stanches blood from wound. [Gem Symbolism: Kunz, 68]
  10. emerald relieves diseases of the eye. [Gem Symbolism: Kunz, 370]
  11. Jesus’s five cures he makes blind beggars see. [N.T.: Matthew 9:27–31, 20:31–34; Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–43; John 9:1—34]
  12. sweet fennel said to remedy blindness and cataracts. [Herb Symbolism; Flora Symbolica, 164]
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"Healing." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Healing." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505500328.html

"Healing." Allusions--Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. 1986. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505500328.html

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Healing

A Dictionary of British Place-Names | 2003 | | Copyright

Healing NE. Lincs. Hegelinge 1086 (DB). ‘(Settlement of) the family or followers of a man called *Hægel’. OE pers. name + -ingas.
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A. D. MILLS. "Healing." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

A. D. MILLS. "Healing." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O40-Healing.html

A. D. MILLS. "Healing." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O40-Healing.html

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Healing

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion | 2003 | Copyright

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healing

A Dictionary of Nursing | 2008 | Copyright

healing (heel-ing) n. see intention.
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