Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 144 (November 2012) 69-91

A Theological Model of Healing to

Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry
Stuart C. Bate OMI
ABSTRACT

Healing was an important part of the mission of Jesus and the apostles. This ministry
continued throughout the history of the Church, taking many forms. Plagues, pandemics
and incurable diseases have always been a challenge to it. This challenge has been
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of a contextual theological model which can inform the healing ministry within Southern
Africa. The narrative is constructed in terms of seven challenges which must be met to
ensure this goal is reached. Three of the challenges respond to issues emerging from a
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miraculous cures and those who believe primarily in medical procedures. The other four
challenges respond to issues emerging from a theological analysis of the context. An
assessment is made of the theological merits of diverse healing procedures.

Introduction
The importance of constructing contextual theological models that inform ministry
cannot be overemphasised. Such models are essential for the methodology of
pastoral and practical theologies. Theological models need to bring together
disciplined analysis of the context, faithfulness to the Christian tradition, and
innovation in developing contextual theological categories to inform ministry.
The healing ministry is an important area for such construction.
We must recognise the importance of healing in the ministry of Jesus as attested
by the evangelists. He also established a band of followers whom he commissioned
to pursue the ministry of healing as he had done (Matthew 10).1 Healing thus
seems central to Christianity and indeed many forms of healing ministry have
existed throughout the history of the Church.2 Plagues, pandemics and incurable

1 Stuart C. Bate, The Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal in the South African Context
(NY: Edwin Mellen, 1999), 179-180.
2 Church is capitalised when it refers to expression of the one Church such as in Church teaching,
history of the Church etc. It is also capitalised when referring to the name of individual church
traditions such as the Catholic Church etc. It is also capitalised when acronyms such as AIC are

5VWCTV%$CVGKU4GUGCTEJCPF&GXGNQROGPV1HſEGTCV5V,QUGRJŏU6JGQNQIKECN+PUVKVWVG
Cedara and Honorary Lecturer in the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics,
University of KwaZulu-Natal. <scbate@omi.org.za>
70 Bate

diseases have always been a challenge to this ministry. Today’s context of HIV
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that challenge, with many faith healers claiming to elicit cures: “In a very general
sense we need to take account of the fact that those practicing the Coping-healing
ministry and those being healed report their experience as such.”3
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the validity of such healing, claiming in their studies to have found no evidence
of cures and dismissing the phenomenon as “psychosomatic”, “quackery”,
“emotion of the moment”, “mental instability” or a dangerous use of the power
of suggestion.4
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VRPHFKXUFKHVRIIDLWKKHDOLQJEHLQJFRQGXFWHGLQRWKHU&KULVWLDQJURXSV$,'6
and other life threatening illnesses are claimed to be miraculously healed. In some
cases, those so healed are instructed to throw away their prescribed medication.
In 2010 the South African Council of Churches condemned this practice: “SA
Council of Churches secretary general Eddie Makue said it was ‘completely and
utterly irresponsible’ for churches to claim to have faith-healed patients. He said in
order to be cured from any illness, people needed to undergo a medical process.”5
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DQGXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHKXPDQFRQWH[WZLWKLQZKLFKGLI¿FXOWLOOQHVVHVVXFKDV
+,9DQG$,'6DQGRWKHUGLVDELOLWLHVWKDWDIIHFWSHRSOHRQDQRQJRLQJEDVLVRFFXU
An example of such confusion is that between modern westerners who operate
within the culture of individualism, and traditional cultures and some religious
communities which are based on a communal notion of humanity. The former
tend to prioritise individual freedom and conscience over the requirements and
teaching of the community, be it church, culture or country. This is often not the
case in the latter.
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the large number of controversies concerning the role of religion in healing
today, nor is that the goal. The purpose of this article is to construct a theological
framework within which such questions and controversies can be approached. This
will be done in two principal parts. First, an analysis of the social context will be
presented, focussing principally on the cultural factors since these are the most
expressed in full. In all other cases where it is one of many, the small case is used as in church
buildings and Neo-Pentecostal churches.
3 For examples of experiences by healers and those being healed from within the coping-healing
phenomenon, see Bate, Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal, 42-56.
4 The views and quotes are taken from Bate, Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal, 69-70.
5 “Faith Healers Anger Council of Churches”, IOL News August 6, 2010 [ www.iol.co.za/news/south-
africa/faith-healers-anger-council-of-churches-1.672243]. Accessed March 2012.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 71

important and the most misunderstood. The second part will be the construction
of the theological model to inform ministry. This will be based on a theological
anthropology founded on the social analysis, a biblical theology based on the
ministry of Jesus, and an ecclesiology based on Church doctrine and disciplinary
norms regarding the healing ministry.
The theological model will be developed in response to seven challenges
which must be met in order to construct a contextual theology which can inform
pastoral ministry within this context. Three of the challenges respond to issues
emerging from a social analysis of the context whereas the other four respond to
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not the only illnesses being considered here but they are often a metaphor for
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called to respond. Our context is urban and peri-urban Southern Africa.

PART 1: Understanding the Context

Challenge 1: To Recognize the Social and Religious Dimensions

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Disabilities.
It is important to begin by recognising that the scale of a pandemic such as HIV
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its place in our context. This scale takes it beyond the domain of sickness and
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is social because it affects many other areas of society besides the sickness/health
domain. It impacts on politics, economics, culture and the community. It affects
all levels of society from the local to the national and indeed the global. It has a
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of religion concerns human limitation in life and death.6
A semiotic analysis of a multicultural society like South Africa clearly reveals,
as we have seen above, differences between groups regarding the metaphors of
sickness and health.7 This leads to a whole series of different views, values and
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)RUH[DPSOHVRPHGHQ\WKDW+,9FDXVHV$,'6VD\LQJWKDWLWVHWLRORJ\LVURRWHG
LQDQHYLOVSLULWRUVLQIXOEHKDYLRXU6RPHGHQ\WKDW$,'6LVLQFXUDEOHDQGFODLP
to have cured it. This is the case with faith healers. Some say that there is no such
6 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (N.Y.: Basic Books, 1973), 100.
7 Bate, Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal, 109-113; 117-121.
72 Bate

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many different aspects of our human life. For some it is a matter of life and death,
for others it is a question of access to resources such as medicines and adequate
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is linked to wealth and poverty. There are political consequences regarding the
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always have a link to the spiritual world, and issues of spirits, witches, demons,
sin and evil become part of the narratives linked to the illness.
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be a virus in the medical understanding of sickness and health, there are actually
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serious illnesses that are far wider than the medical approaches. Our response to
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values of our society. Attitudes such as stigma, silence and denial are related to
perceptions within some groups in our society, and these attitudes are driven by
beliefs and values within their cultural horizon. This leads some groups to give
the phenomenon much greater power within the community than others who
consider it to be more of a personal matter.
An authentic response to a context like this requires a response to the complexus
of truths, beliefs and values within the context. As we shall see, this complexus
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remedy. So whilst the discovery of an organic cure would also remove many
other issues by changing a complex sickness into a curable disease, the healing
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troubles it generates since these militate against wellbeing. These troubles emerge
as a result of the social, cultural and religious factors involved. Indeed, as we
shall demonstrate, the healing that heals our humanity is cultural and religious
healing.10 It is cultural because it affects our values and way of life. It is religious
because it affects our deepest beliefs about life, death and human limitation: our
deepest truths. This raises the next challenge we must respond to.

 3HWHU+'XHVEHUJ³$,'6$FTXLUHGE\'UXJ&RQVXPSWLRQDQG2WKHU1RQFRQWDJLRXV5LVN)DFWRUV´
Pharmacology and Therapeutics 55, no. 3 (1992). See also John Lauritsen, The Risk-AIDS Hypothesis.
[www.duesberg.com/media/jlrisk-2.html]. Accessed March 2012.
9 Stuart C. Bate, “Good News for Aids Myths”, Missionalia 30, no. 1 (2002), 93-108, 96.
10 6WXDUW&%DWH³5HVSRQVLEOH+HDOLQJLQD:RUOGRI+,9$,'6´LQResponsibility in a Time of
AIDS, ed. Stuart C. Bate (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster, 2003), 146-165.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 73

Challenge 2: To Understand the Cultural Dimension of Illness

and Healing
,QWKH¿HOGRIPHGLFDODQWKURSRORJ\ERWKLOOQHVVDQGKHDOLQJDUHcultural constructs.
This means that the ways in which a culture makes sense of illness and health
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LOOQHVVHVWKDWDUHGLI¿FXOWWRKHDODULVHEHFDXVHRIFXOWXUDOGLIIHUHQFHVDERXWWKH
perception, understandings and meaning of illnesses. Medical anthropology is the
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experience and meaning of perceived disease...the shaping of disease into behaviour
and experience ...created by personal, cultural and social reactions to disease.”11
Healing is seen as the psycho-cultural construction of well-being as a result of
the application of effective remedies by the healer. Let us try to illustrate this by
examining the experience of illness and healing entering into the life of a person

The human experience of illness and healing

Illness comes to us as an experience which may occur long after the process of
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a person has is a feeling. It is the feeling that I am not well. I feel unwell. I feel
ill. This feeling is always a cultural construct since culture affects the perception
of the illness, knowledge about it, the values ascribed to it as serious, dangerous,
immoral or threatening, and the emotion that the illness generates.12
My perception of the illness is the way the illness enters my world and the
way I articulate the symptoms of the illness. Cognition of the illness refers to the
labels I give to the experience. These come from the categories of understanding
given by my culture. The value of the illness is a statement of the meaning of
this illness in terms of the value system and beliefs of my culture. All of these
combine to create an emotion concerning this illness: the emotion generated by
my experience of this illness.
The totality of this experience allows me to identify the illness and thus clarify
the remedy.
There are of course many cultural patterns operating within South African
society. For the purposes of illustration, this article will consider three cultural
paradigms operating on the level of sickness and health particularly in urban
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paradigm is that of African Traditional Culture for which I use the Zulu tradition
11 A. Kleinman, Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1980), 72.
12 For more on how events become human experience through culture see Stuart C. Bate, Human Life
is Cultural (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2002), 27-38.
74 Bate

as example.13 The second is Modern Western Culture for which I use the Medical
model as example.14 The third I call the Urban Neo-Pentecostal Culture which
describes the healing beliefs and practices within Neo-Pentecostal, Charismatic
and other Coping-healing churches.15

The local remedy

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an identity to the illness and thus clarify the remedy. The remedy will also be
conditioned by my culture on the same four levels: perception, cognition, value
and emotion. I use the easiest remedy that will work, starting with those available
in my local family or community context. Table 1 below illustrates examples of
typical basic illnesses in the three cultures and their normal remedy.

Table 1
Culture Illness Remedy

West (English) Headache Aspirin

Emotional or Psychological Counselling or Therapy

illness

Zulu Traditional Umkhuhlane (ordinary ailments) Umuthi (Traditional medicines)

Ukufa kwabantu/isifo sabantu Ukubhula nokwelashwa
(sickness which doesn’t respond (divining the cause and providing
to medicines and has an external the remedy)
mystical or spirit based source)
Ukuthakatha Ukubhula nokwelashwa
(Using evil forces to make (divining the cause and providing
enemies sick or die) the remedy
Neopentecostal Possession by evil spirits Casting out evil spirits

13 For a detailed presentation of the categories of sickness and their remedies in traditional Zulu culture see
V. Ncube, “Responsibility in Inculturation: The Healing Ministry in a Zulu Context”, in Responsibility
in a Time of AIDS, ed. Stuart C. Bate (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster, 2003), 78-115.
14 For a presentation of the medical model see R. Laing, The Politics of the Family and Other Essays
(London: Tavistock Publications, 1971).
15 )RUDJHQHUDORXWOLQHRIVXFKFKXUFKHVLQXUEDQ$IULFDVHH+'LOJHU³+HDOLQJWKH:RXQGVRI
0RGHUQLW\6DOYDWLRQ&RPPXQLW\DQG&DUHLQD1HR3HQWHFRVWDO&KXUFKLQ'DU(V6DODDP
Tanzania”, Journal of Religion in Africa 37 (2007), 59-83. For more on “Coping-healing churches”
see Bate, Inculturation of the Christian Mission to Heal.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 75

But if this remedy is not effective and the illness continues then I am driven to
seek a more powerful remedy within my cultural horizon in order to feel better.

More powerful local remedies

If the illness continues I go on to the next level: the local cultural healing service.
These also differ from culture to culture as indicated in Table 2 below:

Table 2
Culture Local Healing Resource
West (English) clinic/nurse/doctor
Zulu Traditional nyanga/iSangoma16
African Urban17 umthandazi, umprofeti, umkhokeli18

Neopentecostal and other Religious cultures Priest/holy person/guru/Pentecostal Faith

healer

But if these local resources are not effective and the illness continues, I will
be inclined to seek out a more powerful healing resource within my culture in
order to feel well. This is a move to the next level of healing power, a more distant
cultural healing service.19 These are normally cultural resources that are further
away and bigger. Often the distance and effort required to access them gives an
emotional cultural power to them which motivates me to seek them out. In other
words, this is a movement onto the next level of cultural healing power.

More powerful distant cultural remedies

Once more, the distant cultural healing resource is culturally determined. In
Western culture it is the hospital. In African Traditional Culture it will be a distant
well known nyanga/iSangoma. In an urban black township it may be a distant
well known umkhokeli, umprofeti or umthandazi. Those convinced of the power
of Pentecostal healers may go to a more well-known national or international
16 iNyanga is a healer specialised in traditional plant based medicines (Imithi). iSangoma is a diviner
whose power is given through an ancestral spirit. The Sangoma will identify the source of the problem
and prescribe a remedy.
17 In urban black cultures syncretism between African traditional and neo-Pentecostal forms has led
to these kinds of prayer healers practicing in townships. See T. Sikosana, “Umthandazi: A Growing
Township Healing Form”, Grace and Truth 12, no. 2 (1995), 42-46.
18 These are examples of the names given to such prayer healers in townships.
19 7KHWHUP³GLVWDQW´LVFXOWXUDOO\GH¿QHG,WUHIHUVWRDJUHDWHUFXOWXUDOMRXUQH\UHTXLUHGWRUHDFKLW
and whilst it often has a geographical dimension being further away in space, it is also vertically
more distant as a person moves upward in the power hierarchy of healing in the cultural world.
76 Bate

Pentecostal healer in a different place. People of other cultures and religions

may seek out special healing places like the Ganges for Hindus or Lourdes for
Catholics.20 Others seek a special holy person like Sai Baba for some Hindus, or
“Padre Pio” for Catholics.21
But if the most powerful healing resource in my culture is ineffective then I
begin to face the reality that my culture does not seem to have the power to heal
this illness of mine and I begin to look beyond this horizon.

Powerful remedies outside my culture

With this, a journey may begin beyond the normal social context and belief system,
and investigations may lead outside the cultural horizon for a more powerful
remedy to feel well.
At this point the cultural healing boundary is crossed and the sick person
begins the process of becoming open to another world-view.
If the healers within this world-view heal me, I will become convinced of the
power of this world-view. I may assimilate parts of it and bring it into my cultural
horizon or I may reject my own culture and convert to the new one, following its
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This process happened within African Traditional Cultures in the colonial
period as a result of the medical missions of Christianity. It is what happens when
mainline church Christians or members of African traditional cultures convert to
African Independent Churches or Neo Pentecostal healing churches. It is what
happens when Westerners embrace Buddhism, Hare Krishna and other, especially
eastern, religions, or adopt alternative healing methods such as homeopathy,
holistic health programmes, chiropractic procedures and many others.
These examples help us to understand that people from different cultures
tend to follow the same process in the search for health but they do it within very
different cultural systems of sickness and health. It is thus important for us to
understand the nature of these cultural systems in order to make more sense of
the search for healing of sicknesses that are hard to heal.

20 The terms “Catholic Church” and “Catholic” are used throughout this article to refer to what some
authors call the “Roman Catholic Church”. Whilst the latter is common amongst English speakers
and it is true that other Christians profess their faith in terms of the Nicene and Constantinople
symbols which includes the term “Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”, it is not the term this
church uses to refer to itself. See, for example, Lumen Gentium'RJPDWLF&RQVWLWXWLRQRQWKH
Church, Vatican Council II 1965, §8, 12, 13, 18. Similarly, its members refer to themselves as
Catholics and not Roman Catholics. For these reasons the terms “Catholic Church” and “Catholic”
is used throughout to refer to the 23 distinct churches which recognise the Pope as the Vicar of
Christ on earth.
21 S. Luzzatto, Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age (NY: Metropolitan, 2010).
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 77

Challenge 3: To Recognise Local Cultural Systems of Sickness

and Health
To understand Religious and Cultural healing we need to acknowledge the power
of different cultural systems of illness and health. There are many of these but
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in Southern African society particularly in urban and peri-urban contexts. I will
present them as cultural models of sickness and health to show how similar kinds
of illnesses are experienced, labelled, categorised and understood in different
ways. I will present a model of each system following the same parameters: a
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health and a cultural limitation of the system. The cultural limitations are very
important because it is when these are reached that people begin to explore other
cultural resources for healing.

Medical healing. Cultural source: modern western culture

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dysfunction.22$OOVLFNQHVVPXVWEHREMHFWLYHO\YHUL¿HGE\GLDJQRVLVDQGFXUHGE\
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The principal remedy in this culture is called the cure.23 The worldview of this
culture states that the world is material and particular. It is observable, measurable,
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by the method are not cures. Some diseases are “incurable” because medical
science has not yet found the cure. Those who feel ill and go to practitioners from
this culture may be told “there’s nothing wrong with you” if their diagnostic tools
IDLOWR¿QGDGLVHDVH7KLVFDQEHTXLWHGLVWXUELQJWRDSHUVRQZKRIHHOVVLFN

Healing in African traditional cultures: cultural source: rural Zulu

tradition.24
In African tradition, health is linked with the notion of life, which is understood
22 ³'LVHDVH'LVRUGHURID%RG\6\VWHPRU2UJDQ6WUXFWXUHRU)XQFWLRQ”, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary
28th Edition (Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2006).
23 “Cure: To Heal; To Make Well”, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary 28th Edition (Baltimore:
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2006).
24 This section is based on Ncube, “Healing Ministry in a Zulu Context”, 80-84.
78 Bate

in a wide sense in terms of harmony of personal, interpersonal, communal and

ecological wellbeing. I shall use the Zulu cultural context to describe this process.
Healing is a process of restoring the fullness of life, principally by dealing with
damaged relationships. The principal sign of illness is not living well (Ukungaphili
kahle) and the principal remedy is to bring life (Ukuphilisa), which usually implies
restoring order into a person’s world (ukuzilungisa).
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become damaged. So the principal remedy requires restoring life by dealing with
damaged relationships. In this culture, humanity is at the centre of the world.
Humanity is being-in-community, understood as relatedness between peoples both
living and living dead (ancestors). Living well (health) is a sign that the cosmic
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is through the process of divination which must discover WHO is the cause of this
sickness. The remedy involves dealing with those concerned. This may require
restoring family relationships, appeasing ancestors, removing witches, redirecting
harmful medicines back to their human source and many other methods which
will be revealed by the traditional healer (L6DQJRPDQ\DQJD). The limitation of
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absent fathers, one-parent families and orphans. Rituals and symbols from this
culture may also inform some practices in African Independent Churches (AIC).25

Healing in urban Christian neo-pentecostal culture

In the healing mega churches emerging since the mid-1970s, which I have referred
to elsewhere as “Coping Healing churches” and “Neopentecostal churches”,
sickness and health are referred to in terms of the biblical categories found in the
gospels. These are based on the Greco Roman culture of that time.26
The principal cause of the illnesses they heal is demons and evil spirits, even
though many recognise that not all illness comes from this source. In this culture,
the world is God’s creation which he continues to control directly.27
Jesus came to bring us salvation and healing as a spiritual reality which is
available to all who believe in him. Healing happens by casting out the demons
25 “AIC” is an acronym for those churches categorised variously as “African Independent Churches”,
“Africa Indigenous Churches” or “African Initiated Churches” depending on the theological
viewpoint of the categoriser.
26 See H.C. Kee, Medicine, Miracle and Magic in New Testament Times (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1988).
27 )RUDW\SLFDODUWLFXODWLRQRIWKLVDSSURDFKVHH7RP%URZQ³7KH5ROHRI'HPRQVDQG'LVHDVH´
edited excerpt from Tom Brown, Healing Through Deliverance (El Paso TX: Tom Brown
Ministries, nd) [www.tbm.org/role_of_demons_and_sickness_by_t.htm]. Accessed September
2011.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 79

of sickness by the direct intervention of God through the prayers and exhortation
of the minister and faith in Jesus of the sick person.28
Here, all sickness is spiritual in nature. Evil spirits continue to tempt us and
possess us when we do not live by the power of Christ. God continues to work
miracles of healing today through Jesus.
The limitation of this model is the necessity of faith for healing, which can
RVWUDFLVHWKHXQKHDOHGDVKDYLQJLQVXI¿FLHQWIDLWK29 Rituals and symbols from this
culture also inform practices in African Independent Churches (AIC).
The three models of sickness and health are compared below in Table 3. It
is important to note that many people in urban contexts have acculturated more
than one model into their lifestyles and will often pass from one to the other in
attempting to effect healing.

Table 3 Healing in three different cultures prevalent in urban South Africa.

Healing Western Culture African Traditional Neopentecostal
paradigm Culture (Zulu) Culture
HEALING Curing Organic Restoring the fullness of Casting out
IS: 'LVHDVH life. demons of
sickness.
PRINCIPAL 'LVHDVHGH¿QHGDV Ukungaphili kahle (lit.: 'HPRQVDQG(YLO
SIGN diagnosable source of not to live well) Spirits.
OF ILLNESS: organic dysfunction.
PRINCIPAL The cure. Ukuphilisa/ukuzilungisa. Healing as God’s
5(0('< (lit.: to bring life or direct intervention.
order). Restoring life by
dealing with damaged
relationships.
CULTURAL The world is material Humanity is at the centre The world is God’s
:25/'- and particular. of the world. Humanity creation which
VIEW It is observable, is being-in-community he continues to
measurable, and understood as relatedness control directly.
controllable using the between peoples both Jesus came to
VFLHQWL¿FPHWKRG living and living dead bring us salvation
(Ancestors). Living and healing as a
well (health) is a sign spiritual reality
that the cosmic order of which is available
relatedness is in harmony. to all who believe
in him.

28 For the role of faith in healing see H. Solbrekken, “Healing Through Faith in Jesus Christ (Bible,
articles, miracles, healing testimonies)”, [www.mswm.org/healing.faithjesus.htm]. Accessed
September 2011.
29 '50F&RQQHOOThe Promise of Health and Wealth (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990), 165-166.
80 Bate

CULTURAL All sickness must All sickness is relational All sickness is

81'(5- be objectively LQQDWXUH'LYLQDWLRQPXVW spiritual in nature.
67$1',1* YHUL¿HGE\FOLQLFDO discover WHO the cause Evil spirits
OF SICK- diagnosis and cured is. continue to tempt
1(66$1' E\UHPHGLHVLGHQWL¿HG The remedy consists us and possess us
HEALTH: by experimentation in dealing with those when we do not
OHDGLQJWRYHUL¿DEOH concerned. This includes live by the power
repeatable solutions. restoring family of Christ.
relationships, appeasing God continues
ancestors, removing to work miracles
witches, or redirecting of healing today
harmful medicines back to through Jesus.
their human source.
CULTURAL Illness not revealed Relationships are Faith is necessary
LIMITATION by the method is not basically familial and clan for healing.
illness and cures which based so the system only
DUHQRWYHUL¿DEOHE\ works well in areas where
the method are not the clan members share
cures. Some diseases a common space (their
are incurable (because land).
medical science has
not yet found the cure).

7KH¿UVWSDUWRIWKLVSDSHUKDVDWWHPSWHGWRDQDO\VHVRPHRIWKHFRQFHSWV
symbols and processes operating in the sickness and health domain in South
Africa. The next section will attempt to construct a local theology which responds
to this local context. Such a theology will be helpful in informing effective healing
ministries within it.

PART 2: Constructing a Local Theology Which Could Inform a

Healing Ministry in Urban African Contexts

Essential Components of a Local Theology

Local theology provides the theological motivation for ministry within a local
context. Elsewhere I have noted that Christian ministry should aim to provide
culturally mediated ministries responsive to culturally mediated human needs.30
A local theology needs to provide a Theological Anthropology which incarnates
the theology in the local context and culture, a Biblical Theology which roots the
theology in the Scriptures and an Ecclesiology which roots the local theology in
the tradition and teaching of the Church.
30 For an exposition of this point see Stuart C. Bate, “Culture in Christian Praxis”, Journal of
Theology for Southern Africa 109 (2001), 67-82.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 81

Challenge 4: To Construct a Theological Anthropology Based

On Local Cultural Models of Sickness and Health
Models of three cultural paradigms of illness and health have been presented.
It is contended that these are found in most urban areas of contemporary South
Africa, impacting on most people within them. A theological anthropology needs
to reveal the Christian dimension of these cultures by indicating what in them is
either compatible with the gospel or indeed can be seen as an expression of the
Christian message which reveals the gospel.
Often problems occur when one model is used to the exclusion of the others.
We have already noted the case of people already on medical treatment being told
to throw away their medication when they experience healing after treatment by
faith healers. In that case their doctor said: “the patients were on treatment before
the faith healing session and doing well.” He noted that “when he saw one of his
patients a year later, she hadn’t taken her medication and had advanced Aids.”31
Similar health problems occur when medical practitioners do not recognize the
healing power of communal support that the community based healing systems of
the African Traditional and Neopentecostal models offer. The African traditional
model ensures support and care by creating harmony within relationships and
ensuring the prescribed rituals are completed. The Neopentecostal model mediates
wellbeing by being right with God, having sins forgiven and being prayed over
by a spiritual healer, thus becoming one with the community. Jesus recognized
this plurality of culture in healing by insisting that those who were healed of
leprosy “show themselves to the priest in accordance with the Law of Moses”
(Luke 5:14; Matthew 8.4).
A further example of this is found in the experience of Johan Viljoen who
relates how medical intervention in a state of the art hospital saved his life, but
more was required than the medical model to bring health.
I have no doubt that I owe the fact that I am alive today to this medical intervention.
+RZHYHU,GLGQRWÀRXULVKDQGUHPDLQHGZHDN,QUHWURVSHFW,UHDOL]HWKDWWKLVZDV
EHFDXVH LQ VSLWH RI DOO WKH WHFKQRORJ\ HI¿FLHQF\ DQG SURIHVVLRQDOLVP RQH FULWLFDO
ingredient was absent – compassionate care. After two weeks, I asked to be transferred
to a hospice run by nuns. They did not have the advanced medical equipment or the
KLJKO\TXDOL¿HGVWDII%XWWKH\HPEUDFHGPHZLWKORYHDQGWUHDWHGPHZLWKFDUHDQG
compassion. And my body immediately responded.32
In a multicultural society it is important not to be closed to the healing models
of other groups since there is theological value in each. Healing by casting out
31 “Faith Healers Anger Council of Churches” IOL news August 6 2010 [www.iol.co.za/news/south-
africa/faith-healers-anger-council-of-churches-1.672243]. Accessed March 2012.
32 Johan Viljoen , “Responsible and Caring for One Another, Response to paper by Sr Patricia Fresen”,
in Responsibility in a time of AIDS, ed. Stuart C. Bate (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster, 2003), 70-74, 70.
82 Bate

demons of sickness, as found in the Neopentecostal model, helps all Christians

to recognise the existence of powerful forces which seem to transcend human
limitation, creating fear, suffering, exploitation and other social evils. Faced with
these powers, we need to call on the power of God in our interventions. This
model reminds us that the power of evil can be defeated by the power of God.
Curing organic disease clinically, as found in the Western Medical model, helps
XVWRVHHWKHSRZHURIKXPDQLW\WR¿QGHIIHFWLYHVFLHQWL¿FVROXWLRQVWRSUREOHPV
and not to be afraid of what may seem overwhelming. Healing by restoring the
fullness of life as found in the African traditional cultural model helps us to see
the importance of human relatedness for the fullness of life. And this implies the
responsibility of all in society to ensure the well-being of the poor and suffering:
the virtue of human solidarity.
All three models of healing and their Christian expression lead to a very wide
theology of healing which includes:
™ Casting out demons, understood as evil powers which appear to transcend
human limitation, by faith in the effective power of God.
™ &XULQJGLVHDVHE\WKHSRZHURIKXPDQLQJHQXLW\DQGZLVGRPWR¿QGHIIHFWLYH
VFLHQWL¿FVROXWLRQVWRSUREOHPV
™ Restoring the fullness of life to the whole of humanity by recognising the
centrality of human relatedness and the importance for all of the well-being
of the suffering.
A wide theological understanding of healing is much better in restoring the
healing ministry to its place as an essential part Christian praxis, as it was in
the mission of Jesus and the apostles. Solutions which focus only on one of the
three models to the detriment of the others will provide only a partial solution to
a theology of healing and indeed may cause harm to people, as illustrated. This
contribution to our local theology will be further enriched by an examination of
the depth and richness of the New Testament images and symbols of healing.

Challenge 5: To Construct A Biblical Theology from the

Example of Jesus and the Apostles

The Biblical notion of healing in the ministry of Jesus

It is essential to understand healing within the world of Jesus and its meaning in
our context. For example, the notion of miracle in the world of Jesus and miracle
in modernity are entirely different. The former refers to wonderful events seen
E\SHRSOHWKHODWWHUWRWKHVXVSHQVLRQRIWKHVFLHQWL¿FODZVRIQDWXUH
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 83

There are three principal Greek terms used for the healing work of Jesus in
WKHJRVSHOV7KH¿UVWRIWKHVHLViasthai (ȧȐıșĮȚ). It refers to the kind of healing
done by a physician (iatrosȓĮIJȡȩȢ,WDSSHDUVVHYHQWHHQWLPHVLQWKHJRVSHOV
especially in Luke.33
The second term used is sozoıȫȗȦ$VZHOODVPHDQLQJKHDOLQJLWDOVR
means to save, rescue or maintain integrity. It always refers to the whole person,
not individual members of the body. You cannot “sozo” an arm or an eye. This
WHUPDSSHDUVVL[WHHQWLPHVIRUKHDOLQJLQWKHJRVSHOVDQGWKLUW\¿YHWLPHVLQD
less clinical sense referring to other forms of saving a person. It is based on an
Aramaic term with a twofold meaning: make alive and make healthy. Saving and
healing are thus part of the same process.347KHUHLVFOHDUO\VRPHDI¿QLW\KHUH
with the notion of “ukuphilisa” in isiZulu.35
The third term used for healing is therapeuoșİȡĮʌİȪȦ7KLVLVWKHPRVW
common term used. It is used in the gospels in the “sense of to heal and always
in such a way that the reference is not to medical treatment which might fail but
to real healing.” It is used thirty-three times for healing in the gospels.36 It is often
translated “curing” in English translations, which has become problematic given
WKHVFLHQWL¿FGH¿QLWLRQJLYHQWRWKLVZRUGE\WKHPHGLFDOPRGHOLQ:HVWHUQFXOWXUH

The disciples are sent on a mission to heal

The fundamental text of this mission mandate is found in chapter 10 of Matthew’s
JRVSHO7KHWH[WKDVDQXPEHURIVLJQL¿FDQWIHDWXUHVIRURXUELEOLFDOWKHRORJ\
of healing. Verse 1 recounts the calling or vocation given to the disciples. This
vocation is empowered to ministry through Jesus’ gift of authority which makes
WKHPDSRVWOHVYHUVH,WLVDQDXWKRULW\WRFDVWRXWȑțȕȐȜȜİȚȞXQFOHDQVSLULWV
DQG WR ³KHDO HYHU\ GLVHDVH DQG HYHU\ VLFNQHVV´ șİȡĮʌİȪİȚȞ ʌĮıĮȞ ȞȩıȠȞ țĮȚ
ʌĮıĮȞȝĮȜĮțȓĮȞTherapeuein pasan noson kai pasan malakian). This text uses
the term “therapeuo” for healing.
,QYHUVHWKHPLVVLRQDU\PDQGDWHLVH[SUHVVHGLQVL[WDVNV7KH¿UVWLVWR
preach that the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand. The second is to heal the

33 Albrecht Oepke, “1965: s v iomai ȓȐȠȝĮȚ”, in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed.
Gerhard Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
1965).
34 Werner Foerster, “1973: s v sozo (ıȫȗȦ)”, in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard
Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973).
35 6WXDUW&%DWH³5HVSRQVLEOH+HDOLQJLQD:RUOGRI+,9$,'6´ in Responsibility in a Time of AIDS,
ed. Stuart C. Bate (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster, 2003), 146-165, 148.
36 +HUPDQ:ROIJDQJ%H\HU³VYWKHUDSHXRșİȡĮʌİȪȦ´LQTheological Dictionary of the
New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1973).
84 Bate

sick/ailing ones (ȐıșİȞȠȪȞIJĮȢșİȡĮʌİȪİIJİasthenountas therapaeuete) which

is translated in some isiZulu bibles as “philisani abagulayo” (bring life to the
VLFN7KLV¿QGVFOHDUHFKRHVLQWKH$IULFDQWUDGLWLRQDOPRGHOQRWHGDERYH7KH
third is to “awaken (or raise up) the dead” (ȞİțȡȠȪȢ ȑȖİȓȡİIJİ; nekros egeirete).
7KHIRXUWKLVWRFOHDQVHWKHOHSHUVDQGWKH¿IWKLVWR³FDVWRXWGHPRQV´įĮȚȝȩȞȚĮ
ȑțȕȐȜȜİIJİ; daimonia ekballete,WLVLPSRUWDQWWRXQGHUVWDQGWKHVLJQL¿FDQFHRI
these categories within the culture of the people in Jesus’ time.37
It is also important to see the use of these categories within the three cultural
models presented above. Of particular note is the disparity between the term
translated “cure” in English and the medical notion of “cure” which has little to do
with the understanding of healing (therapeuo) in the Greek original. Consequently
SHRSOH ZLWK D :HVWHUQ XQGHUVWDQGLQJ RI FXUH ZRXOG ¿QG OLWWOH ZKLFK WRXFKHV
their culture in this part of the text. The same would apply for the terms “demons
or evil spirits” and “raising the dead”. By contrast, those operating within the
1HRSHQWHFRVWDOFXOWXUDOPRGHOZRXOG¿QGDJUHDWGHDOLQWKHVHWH[WVPRWLYDWLQJ
a healing ministry, which, indeed, is why they are healing churches. Finally we
note how in the term philisani abagulayo, the African traditional understanding
of sickness and health corresponds with this text – indeed, with the notion of life
and salvation as found principally in John’s gospel. Examining these paradigms
thus helps us to understand the different ways this text carries the image and
emotion of feeling good, health and wellness to the people of these different
cultural paradigms. It also helps us to see where a great deal of the confusion and
FRQÀLFWDURXQG&KULVWLDQKHDOLQJHPHUJHV

A procedure in the early church

The book of James recounts an early procedure for the way in which this mission
to heal should be applied in ministry. The text says “Anyone who is ill should
VHQGIRUWKHHOGHUVʌȡİıȕȣIJȑȡȠȣȢSUHVE\WHURXVRIWKHFKXUFKDQGWKH\PXVW
anoint the person with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer
RIIDLWKZLOOVDYHKHDOıȫıİȚVRVHLWKHVLFNSHUVRQDQGWKHORUGZLOOUDLVHKLP
up again and if he has committed any sins he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-16).
Here it is important to note the term used for healing. It is “sozo´ıȫȗȦDQG
we have already noted that this term means to heal and to save. It has the sense
of rescuing someone or maintaining their integrity. It always refers to the whole
person, not individual members of the body. This ministry is not then about parts
of the body but about healing the whole person for salvation. It is also interesting

37 Stuart C. Bate, “The Mission to Heal in a Global Context”, International Review of Mission 90, nos.
356-357 (2001), 70-80, 71.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 85

to note the use of “raise him up” in this text. The Greek word used is (ਥȖİȡİ૙;
egerei). This is the same term for raise up as used in Matthew 7 above where it
refers to the dead. In the same way as for “sozo”, a merely physical interpretation
of this text trivialises it.

Challenge 6: To Know and Follow Church Teaching on Healing

Christianity is a community based religion. Membership of the Church confers
rights upon Christians but it also implies duties, expressed in the teaching of the
Church, which members are called to follow. This includes orthodoxy regarding
doctrine and discipline regarding ministry. For this reason it is incumbent upon
Christians to follow the laws and teachings of their churches when involved in
ministry. Ministry thus always has an ecclesiological foundation. Ecclesiological
problems emerge when the ministry of the Church becomes subject to the
preferences and proclivities of individuals which sometimes leads to confusion
and controversy. When this happens Christian ministry can become part of the
SUREOHP UDWKHU WKDQ SDUW RI WKH VROXWLRQ EHFDXVH RI XQUHÀHFWLYH DQG FRQIXVHG
approaches to people who are in need. The healing ministry is full of examples
of such behaviour. Stigma is exacerbated by un-thoughtful sermons blaming
sinful behaviour for illness.38 Some ministers make exaggerated and unproven
claims of healing for the sake of effect and status.39 Unacceptable practices of
simony increasingly creep into Christian healing practices with some charging
VSHFL¿FDPRXQWVIRUKHDOLQJEOHVVLQJV40 When examples of such unacceptable
behaviour perpetrated by ministers are in contradiction to the teaching of the
Christian community, there is a ministerial abuse in terms of ecclesial teaching.
One of the most recent statements of a church communion providing doctrinal
and disciplinary norms for the healing ministry is found in the document

38 J.M. Waliggo, “A Woman Confronts Social Stigma in Uganda”, in Catholic Ethicists on HIV/AIDS
Prevention, ed. J. Keenan (NY: Continuum, 2000), 48-56, 48.
39 6WXDUW&%DWH³'RHV5HOLJLRXV+HDOLQJ:RUN"´Neue Zeitschrift fur Missionswissenschaft 55, no. 4
(1999), 259-278, 262.
40 “The Word on the Word of Faith group blog” is part of a Christian Group ministry which includes
some former faith healers. It is advocating a move away from the faith in faith movement of
faith healers and a return to a Christ centered Christianity. A number of former faith healers have
exposed some of the techniques used to impress people and make money. A typical example is the
story of former faith healer Mark Haville: Peter Glover, “From Faith in Faith to Faith in Christ”,
[http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/05/26/ex-faith-healer] Accessed March 2012.
86 Bate

Instruction on Prayers for Healing from the Vatican.41 Many of these teachings
would not be disputed by other churches though some of the disciplinary norms
would different. Nevertheless it is useful to examine this document as it provides
an indication of some of the main doctrinal and ministerial issues in the healing
ministry.

Doctrinal aspects
7KHLQVWUXFWLRQWRWKHFKXUFKDI¿UPVWKHQHHGWRSUD\IRUWKHKHDOLQJRIWKHVLFN,W
also reminds us that the power of the victory of sickness and death is rooted in the
SDVFKDOP\VWHU\,QDGGLWLRQRXURZQH[SHULHQFHRIVLFNQHVV¿QGVVROLGDULW\ZLWK
the sufferings of Christ in his passion as a result of the struggle against evil.42 As
Jesus did in his suffering, sick people are called to accept God’s will in their lives.43
When it comes to prayer for healing, the Catholic Church distinguishes between
healing rites in the liturgy and “prayer meetings for obtaining healing.”44 In
addition, prayer meetings for healing are further distinguished “between meetings
connected to a ‘charism of healing’ whether real or apparent, and those without
such a connection.”45
An important teaching is that the Holy Spirit “grants to some a special charism
of healing in order to show the power of the grace of the Risen Christ.” However,
this charism is not necessarily given to a particular class of people such as church
leaders. Nor is the healing dependent on the intensity and emotion of the prayer
and the meeting.46 Indeed, every Catholic has the right to pray for healing and
prayer meetings for healing may be led by non-ordained Catholics even in a
church. However, whilst non liturgical prayers for healing allow more freedom of
41 &RQJUHJDWLRQIRUWKH'RFWULQHRIWKH)DLWK5RPHInstruction On Prayers For
Healing [http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_
doc_20001123_istruzione_en.html], Accessed September 2011. Hereafter referred to as Instruction
on Prayers for Healing.
42 “The messianic victory over sickness, as over other human sufferings, does not happen only by its
elimination through miraculous healing, but also through the voluntary and innocent suffering of
Christ in his passion, which gives every person the ability to unite himself to the sufferings of the
Lord.” Instruction on Prayers for Healing §1.
43 “Presuming the acceptance of God’s will, the sick person’s desire for healing is both good and deeply
human, especially when it takes the form of a trusting prayer addressed to God.” Instruction on Prayers
for Healing §2.
44 Instruction on Prayers for Healing §5. Note that Magisterial documents in the Catholic Church are
numbered by section. References are made using the section number.
45 Instruction on Prayers for Healing §5.
46 “Not even the most intense prayer obtains the healing of all sicknesses. St Paul had to learn from
the Lord that ‘my grace is enough for you; my power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9).”
Instruction on Prayers for Healing §5.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 87

expression and format, the rules regarding formal worship services in the Church,
its Liturgy, are much more strictly controlled. These are presented in the document
under a section entitled “Norms”.47 They include the requirement to follow the
prescribed rites.48 In addition, liturgical and non-liturgical forms of healing must
not be combined within one service. This is to preserve the integrity, meaning and
purpose of the liturgy. The anthropological merit of this is obvious since rituals
can be compromised by changes to the form and the performance within them.
It is important to note that many coping-healing churches attempt to
create conditions of high emotion amongst participants. It is well-known that
overstimulation of the senses through drumming, singing raising hands and the like
can create conditions of altered states of consciousness, which promote emotion
transfer which can lead to feelings of wellbeing.49 The danger of such rituals is
that the feelings promoted are not linked to health, and the rituals can become
manipulative and addictive.50 Whilst not raising this matter, the norm promotes
“a climate of peaceful devotion in the assembly” in services for healing, whether
liturgical or non-liturgical.51
Authority regarding liturgical and non-liturgical forms of healing in a local
church rests with Church authorities, which in the case of the Catholic Church is
the bishop of the diocese.52 This means that a priest or local minister does not have

47 “It is licit for every member of the faithful to pray to God for healing. When this is organized in a church
or other sacred place, it is appropriate that such prayers be led by an ordained minister.” Instruction
on Prayers for Healing, Norms Art. 1.
48 Instruction on Prayers for Healing, Norms Art. 2 “Prayers for healing are considered to be liturgical
if they are part of the liturgical books approved by the Church’s competent authority; otherwise, they
are non-liturgical.”
“Liturgical prayers for healing are celebrated according to the rite prescribed in the Ordo
EHQHGLFWLRQLVLQ¿UPRUXPRIWKH5LWXDOH5RPDQXPDQGZLWKWKHSURSHUVDFUHGYHVWPHQWV
indicated therein.” Instruction on Prayers for Healing, Norms Art. 3 §1.
49 -'RZ³8QLYHUVDO$VSHFWVRI6\PEROLF+HDOLQJ$7KHRUHWLFDO6\QWKHVLV´American
Anthropologist 88, no. 1 (1986), 56-69, 64-65.
50 K. Pargament, “Religious Methods of Coping: Resources for the Conservation and Transformation
RI6LJQL¿FDQFH´LQReligion and the Clinical Practice of Psychology, ed. E.P. Shafranske
:DVKLQJWRQ'&$PHULFDQ3V\FKRORJLFDO$VVRFLDWLRQ
51 “Those who direct healing services, whether liturgical or non-liturgical, are to strive to maintain a
climate of peaceful devotion in the assembly and to exercise the necessary prudence if healings should
take place among those present; when the celebration is over, any testimony can be collected with
honesty and accuracy, and submitted to the proper ecclesiastical authority.” Instruction on Prayers
for Healing, Norms Art. 7.
52 ³7KH 'LRFHVDQ %LVKRS KDV WKH ULJKW WR LVVXH QRUPV IRU UHJDUGLQJ OLWXUJLFDO VHUYLFHV RI KHDOLQJ´
Instruction on Prayers for Healing, Norms Art. 4 §1.
“Those who prepare liturgical services of healing must follow these norms in the celebration of
such services.” Instruction on Prayers for Healing, Norms Art. 4 §2.
88 Bate

the right to make changes or adaptations in liturgies in his parish for the sake of,
for example, “inculturation”. This is clearly not the case in some other churches.
Nonetheless, the responsibility of leadership for the activity of ministers is an
important principal which must be upheld within religious practice.

Challenge 7: To Recognise the Theological and Ministerial

Value of a Multifaceted Healing Response to HIV and AIDS
'LI¿FXOW LOOQHVVHV VXFK DV SODJXHV SDQGHPLFV DQG LQFXUDEOH GLVHDVHV SUHVHQW
SDUWLFXODU FKDOOHQJHV ,Q RXU WLPH +,9 DQG$,'6 LV WKH SULPH H[DPSOH 7KH
analysis of the sickness/health paradigm expressed in the challenges presented
allows us to see the complexity of the differing social and cultural contexts within
which it occurs today. Therapies have to take this complexity into account in
order to make a coherent response. On the level of pastoral care, the need for
complexity has been highlighted in a theological response which can determine
adequate pastoral responses. Not all of this theological complexity has been raised
LQWKLVSDSHUDQGVSHFL¿FDOO\WKHFRQWULEXWLRQRIPRUDOWKHRORJ\WRWKLVGHEDWHLV
one important lacunae.
Nevertheless, these conclusions allow us to present a very wide therapeutic
KHDOLQJUHVSRQVHLQRXUSDVWRUDOFDUHDQGPLQLVWU\2XUVHYHQWKDQG¿QDOFKDOOHQJH
is the ability to recognise the multifaceted nature of such a response. This fact
demands the promotion of networking of such responses. There have already
been some attempts to do this between the medical profession, African traditional
healers and African Independent Churches.53
What follows is a list of the kind of healing therapies responding to HIV and
$,'6DOUHDG\DYDLODEOHLQ6RXWK$IULFDWRGD\ZKLFKZRXOGEHDFFHSWDEOHZLWKLQ
such a coherent pastoral response. Hopefully, Christian healing responses in
the future would look for ways to coordinate these and promote them amongst
Christians.54

“Permission to hold such services must be explicitly given, even if they are organized by Bishops
RU&DUGLQDOVRULQFOXGHVXFKDVSDUWLFLSDQWV*LYHQDMXVWDQGSURSRUWLRQDWHUHDVRQWKH'LRFHVDQ
Bishop has the right to forbid even the participation of an individual Bishop.” Instruction on
Prayers for Healing , Norms Art. 4 §3.
53 67&DUSHQWHU³:KDW3HUFHLYHG%HQH¿WV'R+,93RVLWLYH3DWLHQWV2Q$QWLUHWURYLUDO7KHUDS\'HULYH
From Participation In A Local Church? The Experience of Patients at Valley Trust ARV Centre, KwaZulu
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Augustine College of South Africa, 2007).
54 For a detailed presentation of these healing therapies see Bate, “Responsible Healing”, 157-161.
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 89

Medical therapies are supported and promoted in the pastoral ministry of the
Catholic Church as long as they do not include methods destructive of human life,
such as abortion and stem cell harvesting from foetuses. Other Christian churches
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access to antiretroviral drugs.
Therapies based on caring for people are a powerful form of healing. Home-
based care programmes, orphan care programmes and the development of small
scale income generating projects such as food production have become a vital
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drugs.
Therapies for psychic wellness use counselling and psychotherapy to
restore wellbeing to the patient. They promote emotional wellbeing, greater
understanding, and acceptance in patients regarding their situation. The psychic
integration of beliefs, values and behaviour promotes a lifestyle which reinforces
self-identity and self-esteem.
Therapies based on cultural symbols and rituals employ one of the main ways
in which healing is mediated to people. Ritual healing has the ability to effect
psychic and social healing for those people who accept the worldview and symbol
system of the culture. Ritual healing processes effect cultural healing by restoring
wholeness within the community.
Social and political therapies recognise that issues of healing are issues of
society and of politics. Society’s leaders are responsible for ensuring acceptable
healing structures in the country. They are responsible for ensuring effective
resource management in services. In its healing ministry, the Church has a role
in advocating for better healing structures and promoting effective Christian
solutions for prevention.
Spiritual therapies recognise the importance of supernatural factors in both
illness etiology and healing remedies. These can be described as the activity of
evil in malevolent spiritual beings as well as the consequences of immoral human
behaviour, usually understood as sin. Healing therapies include a spiritual response
– in the courage to face evil and defeat it. This can be expressed in many ways
such as casting out demons or evil spirits, confessing sin and receiving forgiveness,
sacramental healing in penance, the anointing of the sick, and prayer for the sick.

Conclusion
The seven challenges I have presented should help Church ministers and pastoral
workers play a vital role within parishes, church institutions and in society in
general. It has been important to emphasise that serious sickness always has social
90 Bate

and religious dimensions which affect different people in different ways. This
is because illness and healing are themselves cultural constructs affected by the
values and beliefs of people. The people of different backgrounds who make up a
country like South Africa have been brought up within different cultural systems
of illness and healing which inform their behaviour. Failure to recognise this and
deal with it creates confusion and militates against healing.
In urban areas many people live within a culture that fuses two or more of
these traditions within urban consumerism. This often leads to a mix and match
approach which tries various therapies until one is perceived to be effective.
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an initial worsening of symptoms, for example in the case of strong medicines.
Other therapies can create initial experiences of wellness which are followed by
a worsening of the illness as underlying causes are not dealt with.
In addition, pastoral workers and ministers who impose their own solutions
in an arbitrary way, loosely based on a consumerist approach of supply and
demand, may not succeed precisely because they have refused to properly
incarnate themselves into the social context of the world they minister within.
Consequently churches must pay attention to developing local healing ministries
which are informed by a theological anthropology that incorporates these cultural
systems. Such ministries must also ensure that they are founded on a biblical
hermeneutic which brings the ministry of Jesus and the apostles in their context,
into the world of today. Such a context is also founded on the teachings of the
church in which we live our faith commitment and not just our personal interest
and opinions. The theological and ministerial value of a complex and diverse
healing response to illnesses that are not easily healed cannot be emphasised
enough, since responsibility in religious and cultural healing should open us up
to the value of providing therapies and ministries on many different levels, not
just the medical.
A widened understanding of the healing ministry as presented here can do
a much better job of restoring the centrality of healing/saving to the centre of
Christian praxis, as it was in the mission of Jesus and the apostles. Just as they
therapeuo’d and sozo’d within their own cultural framework, so we are called
to the same kind of mission within our own: the complex cultural fabric of the
networked globalised world. We have noted that biblical scholars have recognised
that sozo is actually very broad in meaning, being based on an Aramaic term
with a twofold meaning: to make alive and make healthy. In this way it resonates
with the isiZulu term “Ukuphilisa”. The injunction from Jesus to his disciples in
Matthew 10:8 to heal the sick rendered in isiZulu as
Philisani abagulayo (bring life and health to the sick) seems to me to provide
a valuable metaphor for healing in the wide sense of healing ministries promoted
 A Theological Model of Healing to Inform an Authentic Healing Ministry 91

here. It is a symbol from traditional Zulu culture, which has been received into
Zulu inculturated forms of Christianity. It reveals healing as incorporating
all of these elements and can be seen as a metaphor for healing in the global
community. It widens the notion of healing to look at praxis which brings a
fuller life to those who are ailing for whatever reason. This could be seen as an
example of inculturation where the gospel expressed in one culture illuminates all
Christianity. True inculturation is always about the universal consequences of the
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true inculturation always promotes the union of the universal church. It is also
why many expressions of Christianity, which began as local phenomena, have
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and Pentecostalism are but three examples of this.
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approaches, since religious categories respond to the limited areas of human power
where our ordinary ability to be on top of the situation is compromised. Praying
for healing is an essential ministry. In a time of pandemic and plague, the faith,
hope and love that we bring saves and heals people even when their bodies die
from the disease. Philisani abagulayo!