Insights 1999 Spring

Insights

The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary

H

EALINGAND

W

HOLENESS

U

NDERWOOD

•

S

UNDERLAND

•

A

LTER

•

S

MITH

•

C

ARMICHAEL

N

ELSON

•

R

OBERTS

•

R

IGBY

•

J

INKINS

SPRING 1999

Contents

2

I

NTRODUCTION

Robert M. Shelton

H

EALING AND

W

HOLENESS

3G

OD

’

S

L

IFE

-G

IVING

W

AYS

Ralph Underwood

17R

ALPH

U

NDERWOOD

: T

HE

W

HOLESOMEAND

H

EAVENLY

G

IFTSOF

G

OD

An Interview

22R

ESPONSES

Ronald H. Sunderland, Margaret G. Alter, Sybil D. Smith

33J

ESUS

’ H

EALING

M

INISTRYFORTHE

C

HURCH

T

ODAY

Barbara W. Carmichael

39

B

OOK

R

EVIEWS

B

EING

T

HERE

, Jackson W. Carroll, Barbara G. Wheeler,Daniel O. Aleshire, and Penny Long Marler,

reviewed by C. Ellis Nelson;

A

NCIENT

I

SRAELITE

R

ELIGION

, Susan Niditch,

reviewed byKathryn Roberts;

B

YTHE

R

ENEWINGOF

Y

OUR

M

INDS

,EllenT. Charry,

reviewed by Cynthia Rigby

44

D

ARK

B

LESSINGS

:A

GING IN THE

A

GE OF

Y

OUTH

Michael Jinkins

Insights

The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary

Spring 1999

Volume 114Number 2

Editor:

Terry Muck

Editorial Board:

Michael Jinkins, Michael Miller,Kathryn Roberts, and Randal Whittington

Insights:The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary

is published each spring and fallby Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 100 East 27th Street, Austin, TX 78705e-mail: tmuck@austinseminary.eduhttp://www.austinseminary.edu/

Entered as non-profit class bulk mail at Austin, Texas, under Permit No. 2473. POSTMASTER: Address service requested. Send to

Insights

, 100 East 27th Street, Austin, TX 78705-5797.Printing runs are limited. When available, additional copies may be obtained for $1.00 percopy. Permission to copy articles from

Insights: The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary

foreducational purposes will be given by the editor upon written receipt of a request.Some previous issues of

Insights: The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary,

are available onmicrofilm through University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI48106 (16mm microfilm, 105 mm microfiche, and article copies are available). This periodical isindexed in

Religion Index One: Periodicals, Index to Book Reviews in Religion, Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBRR 1975- on CD-ROM

and

ATLA Religion Database on CD-ROM

. Published by American Theological Library Association, 820 Church Street, Evanston, IL 60201-5613, e-mail:atla.com; http://www.atla.library.vanderbilt.edu/atla/home.html. ISSN1056-0548

COVER:

In Duccio’s depiction of Christ’s healing ministry, the formerly blind man is, quite literally, “beside himself.” His past, present, and a previously unimaginable future are suddenly juxtaposed in a singular moment of wholeness. So the church stands face to face with a revolution in its approach to the ministry of healing—the care and maintenance of bodies and spirits. God is doing a new thing. May the articles inthese pages open our minds to the “vision of God’s way of abundant life” Professor Underwood describes.

3

G

OD

’

S

L

IFE

-G

IVING

W

AYS

:

P

RACTICAL

P

RINCIPLESFOR

H

EALING

M

INISTRY

R

ALPH

U

NDERWOOD

Ralph Underwood is professor of pastoral care at Austin Seminary. He received the M.Th. from Princeton Theological Seminary and the M.A. and Ph.D. from the Univer- sity of Chicago. He joined the faculty of Austin Seminary in 1978 and is the author of

Empathy and Confrontation in Pastoral Care

and

Pastoral Care and the Means of Grace.

O

ne of the primary purposes for

Insights

is to present substantive writtenmaterial for congregations and church leaders which is timely and use-ful. My judgment is that this particular edition fulfills that purpose in an excel-lent manner.The theme “Healing and Wholeness” is one which is fundamental for thelife and mission of the church, and is a theme around which much discussionand activity are present in the church today. Critical and informed thinkingabout the subject are needed by church leaders and church groups of vari-ous sorts. The articles in this publication are intended to reflect that sort of thinking and to provide material for others to do the same.I believe you will find the lead article by Professor Ralph Underwood tobe exceptionally informative, useful, and theologically sound. His notion of wholeness as “God’s life-giving ways” is a particularly evocative and soundunderstanding of Christian wholeness, which in my judgment helps to avoida superficial and unsound view of healing. Another idea he sets forth is theimportant principle that wholeness is a ministry of a congregation, and, more-over, the wholeness which individuals experience is directly related to thehealthiness of the congregation. That is something to contemplate in our day.Expanding on Professor Underwood’s thoughtful article is the usual“interview” of the author by the editor, Dr. Muck, and three response articlesby experienced individuals involved in the helping and healing professions.Finally, a pastor relates her own experience with healing and a congregation’sministry of healing. Ancient liturgical services of healing and wholeness are now being redis-covered by ministers, congregations, and denominations. Widely used andunderstood, they can and should enrich the ministry of the church in a bro-ken world, where God’s “life-giving ways” are desperately needed. Our com-munity at Austin Seminary recently experienced the meaning of one such“service of wholeness” as a part of our worship. We, like all communities of Christians who worship and live “life together,” are committed to enablingmembers of our community to experience God’s “life-giving ways.” We con-tinue to strive and pray for a community whose health can be a source of such wholeness. So may God grant.Robert M. Shelton

President

I

NTRODUCTION

2

I

NTRODUCTION

T

he growth of health promotion ministries, embodied primarily in theproliferation of parish nurses, is phenomenal. Already there are morethan 4,000 parish nurses. The day may soon come when parish nurs-es and lay health educators are as common in congregational life and com-munity outreach as youth ministers are today. Impressive new venturesinvolving public health departments, hospitals, and congregations are spread-ing throughout the nation. For Christians as well as people of other religioustraditions, this phenomenon is raising awareness of the link between faithand health, the role of faith and personal behavior in the promotion of humanhealth, and the ways in which injustices in society undermine the health of communities and individuals.In addition to these health promotion ministries, new healing and whole-ness services promise to enrich the church’s witness to God’s life-giving ways.Recently the following mainstream denominations have introduced healingand wholeness services: the major Lutheran denominations in their 1982

Book of Occasional Services

, the United Church of Christ in its 1986

Book of Wor- ship

, the United Methodist Church in its 1992

Book of Worship

, and the Pres-byterian Church (U.S.A.)/Cumberland Presbyterian denominations in their1993

Book of Common Worship

. Preceding them and in certain respects guid-ing them were the Episcopal (1928) and Roman Catholic (1974) traditions. Forthese traditions the introduction of anointing for healing or wholeness was a

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