May 1, 1994
Anglican priest, New Testament professor, and journalist, Harpur provides a balanced investigation of the religious roots and methods of healing. In the process, Harpur challenges the medical profession to openness toward alternative healing methods, churches to "recover the awareness that healing in the fullest sense of the word is really what they are about," and people to greater responsibility for their own health and for becoming healing influences on others. He believes that "trust and confidence in a loving God ...can constitute a potent factor in the self-healing process." Recommended especially for public, seminary, and medical libraries.
February 1, 1994
An attempt to examine the phenomenon of spiritual healing scientifically. Harpur, a Canadian religious writer, first explodes some stereotypes: TV evangelists who practice faith healing are simply charlatans; spiritual healing is an ally, rather than a critique, of conventional medicine; and spiritual healing includes in its definition those patients who simply believe they will get well, and do, as opposed to those who have given up, and die. Harpur cites testimony concerning historical figures such as the famous "blind healer," Geoffrey Mowatt, then alludes to the work of Wilhelm Reich, a physician and student of Freud who postulated "orgone energy." Orgone energy is a massless life force that is, perhaps, tapped into through the laying on of hands. The Canadian biologist Bernard Grad attempted to measure orgone energy in the laying on of hands of a contemporary healer, Oskar Estebany, with double-blind experiments involving mice. Wounded mice that Estebany had handled recovered more rapidly than the control group. There's much here, too, on what might be called the "positive thinking" aspects of prayer. Welcome evidence for those inclined to welcome it; for skeptics, Harpur will make fascinating reading. ((Reviewed Feb. 1, 1994))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1994, American Library Association.)