ABSTRACT
The ‘faith healing’ is widely used to describe a range of healing methods many of which have nothing to do with either the faith of the healer, or the faith of the patient, but which employ methods which are either unorthodox, or presuppose some form of supernatural intervention in the healing process. Disregarding the rather inaccurate phrase, ‘faith healing’, one can look at a tradition of healing from earliest times to which this term can be applied. The primitive faith healers used a variety of techniques, often characterized by exorcism, and sometimes gave natural remedies, or provided spells or rituals for healing. But faith healing is characterized by its emphasis on the mind as distinct from the body. The source of the power which healed through faith healing was believed to derive from a variety of sources, from God or gods, from spirits, from natural forces, or simply from the power of suggestion which the healer held over his patient.
