Spirit Cure: A History of Pentecostal Healing

Spirit Cure: A History of Pentecostal Healing

Joseph W. Williams offers a compelling examination of the changing healing practices of pentecostals in the United States over the past hundred years, from the early believers, who rejected mainstream medicine and overtly spiritualized disease, to the later generations of pentecostals and their charismatic successors, who dramatically altered the healing paradigms they inherited. Williams shows that over the course of the twentieth century, pentecostal denunciations of the medical profession often gave way to "natural" healing methods associated with scientific medicine, natural substances, and even psychology. By the early twenty first century, figures such as the pentecostal preacher T. D. Jakes appeared on The Dr. Phil Show , other healers marketed their books at mainstream retailers such as Wal-Mart, and some developed lucrative nutritional products that sold online and in health food stores across the nation. Exploring the interconnections, resonances, and continued points of tension between pentecostal adherents and some of their fiercest rivals, Spirit Cure chronicles pentecostals' embrace of competitors' healing practices and illuminates their dramatic transition from a despised minority to major players in the world of American evangelicalism and mainstream American culture. "Lucid and engaging Spirit Cure sheds light on the dynamics of innovation, adaptation, and exchange that have helped fuel the appeal of this Christian movement in a variety of historical and geographic contexts."-- History of Religions "A fresh, nuanced, and dynamic reading of Pentecostal healing . thoroughly researched, sharply written, engaging, and thoughtful."-- Church History "Skillfully portrays the complex relationships among faith, culture, and belief... outstanding." -- CHOICE "Distinctive... thoroughly researched, logically organized, and clearly written. It tells a fascinating story... an excellent book that will be of interest to scholars of pentecostalism and divine healing, and more broadly to those interested in the history of modern medicine and complementary and alternative medicine, and America's commercialized, therapeutic culture." -- The Journal of Southern Religion "An important, well-written contribution to American religious history that brings to light intriguing connections between pentecostal and metaphysical traditions of healing in the United States."--Heather Curtis, author of Faith in the Great Physician: Suffering and Divine Healing in American Culture, 1860-1900 "The history of healing in Pentecostal and charismatic movements is anything but simple. Joseph Williams's carefully researched and thoughtful study provides an excellent guide for how divine spiritual healing has developed alongside a reliance on modern medicine and alternative cures, with a theology of demons and surprising trust in science, while partnering with both New Thought and empirical psychology. It is a fine study of an important subject."--Mark Noll, author of Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2011) "Williams's book is a readable, fascinating account of a little-studied aspect of pentecostalism. He skillfully traces some of the powerful connections between New Thought, Christian Science, metaphysical religion and pentecostalism. Throughout Williams reveals pentecostalism's innovative character."--Randall J. Stephens, author of The Fire Spreads: The Origins of Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South "Rather than a simple chronology, Joseph Williams offers an insightful perspective on the changes in pentecostal (author's usage) approaches to healing in the past century... Williams provides a balanced and nuanced account of a complex and controversial subject... Spirit Cure is filled with anecdotes and illustrations and is recommended reading for anyone interested in the history of pentecostalism and/or the history of divine healing." -- Pneuma Joseph Williams is Assistant Professor of Religion at Rutgers University. He received his Ph.D. in American religious history from Florida State University in 2008.