Healing in the Early Church: The Church's Ministry of Healing and Exorcism from the First to the Fifth Century (review)

In this monograph, Andrew Daunton-Fear provides a straightforward and readable survey of literary evidence for physical healing, raising the dead, exorcisms, and the charism of healing in the first five centuries of Christianity.

Chapters One and Two consider New Testament passages relating the healings and exorcisms performed by Jesus and the apostles. Chapters Three and Four catalogue evidence from the second to the mid-third centuries, and Chapter Five covers the late third and early fourth centuries. These central chapters (three through five) are organized by geographical regions and then by authors or documents from those regions. The final chapter, arranged thematically, presents evidence from the fourth and fifth centuries—namely, Athanasius, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Sulpicius Severus, Palladius, the Canons of Hippolytus, and the Sacramentary of Serapion. Given the sheer volume of evidence from the post-Nicene period, this final chapter is much less comprehensive than those that precede it.

Sticking closely to ancient Christian and a few Jewish sources, Healing in the Early Church sheds light on a number of topics. The author sets forth the evidence of miraculous healings or exorcisms with copious quotations from the primary sources. Distinct issues covered include: who exhibited charisms of healing; what methods, words, or objects they used to effect cures; what role faith played in healing; and how ancient authors viewed the relationship between demons, sickness, and sin. Readers learn also about ancient Christians' views of pagan healing cults, magical attempts to find healing, and medical treatment.

In the foreword, the late David F. Wright aptly describes this study as "sympathetic, in that it is written by someone with first-hand involvement over a number of years in healing ministries in the contemporary church" (xiii). The sympathetic quality of the book emerges especially in the conclusion and the brief appendix providing "Some Pointers for Today's Church" (155-56), but it is evident throughout the study in a general attitude of deferential respect towards the early Christian sources. The author seeks "to provide a much more comprehensive survey of healing in the Early Church than is to be found elsewhere" (xx). This task Daunton-Fear accomplishes admirably, contributing an accessible survey of the evidence to benefit contemporary Christians involved or interested in ministries of healing.

More demanding scholars will find Daunton-Fear's approach wanting. For example, the summary treatment of Jesus' healings and exorcisms in the first chapter sidesteps historical-critical questions in favor of simply cataloging stories. Problems of interpretation occasioned by the vicissitudes of the language and transmission of texts are largely ignored, as, for example, in the consideration of Origen (99-109). The volume glosses over open questions regarding the provenance of ancient church orders and early apocryphal acts. Catechumenal or baptismal exorcisms receive little attention, and discussions of the order of exorcist are sketchy at best. Engagement with recent scholarship is limited, with the notable exception of Graham Twelftree. As a whole, the volume reveals the tensions typical of any survey: in order to be comprehensive and accessible, it avoids or downplays a host of critical or complex issues, and often omits potentially helpful commentary for the sake of keeping down the page count.

Since this study falls in the genre of surveys, it is not thesis driven. Nonetheless, a number of themes stand out as particularly significant. Foremost among them is the perennial apologetic import of and evidence for exorcisms. Physical healings, by contrast, appear to have dwindled in frequency. Authors such Cyprian, Arnobius, and John Chrysostom did not recount or expect miraculous healings, holding instead that Christians "must put up with present evils, looking forward to future joys" (114), and that a suffering body might serve for the good of the soul. Yet in their solicitude for the sick, Christians tended to view the medical profession positively. Basil of Caesarea, for example, considered medicine "the...