Christianity

First centuries

A scholar of early Christianity dates the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth under Pontius Pilate in Judea to roughly 26 to 36 CE and describes his followers as a group later called Christians, a name derived from the Greek christos. The same account dates an apostolic council in Jerusalem to about 49 CE on whether Gentile converts needed to adopt Jewish practices, and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

The account places the Edict of Milan, which permitted Christians to assemble, in 313 CE, a conference called by the emperor Constantine at Nicaea in 325 CE on the nature of Christ, and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE. It does not cover later divisions.

Division between East and West

An Orthodox Church in America history describes the separation of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches as a gradual process rather than a single event. It cites differences between Latin and Greek theological approaches, the loss of political unity in the empire, and, from the Orthodox perspective, the reassertion of papal jurisdictional claims. It reports that Rome first used the filioque addition to the creed in public worship in 1014.

The same history reports that on July 16, 1054, Cardinal Humbert placed a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia and Patriarch Michael Cerularius excommunicated Humbert in return. The split deepened until the sack of Constantinople in 1204. In 1965 the mutual anathemas of 1054 were lifted, although the Catholic and Orthodox churches remain out of communion. This is an Orthodox account, and Catholic historians may weight causes differently.

Reformation and later movements

A World History Encyclopedia article dates Martin Luther's objections to indulgences traditionally to October 31, 1517, while noting that modern scholarship has challenged the traditional account of the posting. It places the Swiss reformer Zwingli's preaching of reform by 1519 and Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536, and describes the Church of England as arising when Henry VIII separated from the papacy after the pope refused his divorce.

Pew Research Center traces evangelicalism to late seventeenth-century German Pietism and English Methodism, and Pentecostalism to the nineteenth-century Holiness movement, emerging as a distinct movement in the United States in the early twentieth century. It dates charismatic renewal to 1960 among American mainline Protestants, reaching parts of the American Catholic Church by 1967.

Pentecostal origins

A historian of Pentecostalism writes that a revival in Los Angeles began in April 1906, when a prayer meeting saw people speak in tongues before the gathering moved to a former church on Azusa Street led by William Seymour. She notes that scholars now stress multiple origins, including revivals in Wales, Korea, India and Africa.

A 1973 article reviews four competing accounts of origin: Charles Fox Parham in Topeka, an interracial movement without one founder, a primarily Black American origin centered on Seymour, and a sudden event without a human founder.

The name and its branches

The word Christian is derived from the Greek christos, the title applied to Jesus. In statistical work, Pew Research Center sorts Christians into Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and other Christian categories, defining Protestant broadly to include Anglicans and independent churches. In its 2010 estimates, Catholics were about half of all Christians, Protestants 37 percent, Orthodox 12 percent, and other Christians, such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, about 1 percent.

These categories are an analyst's grouping and not terms every church uses of itself. The sources reviewed do not describe Oriental Orthodox churches or the Anglican Communion in detail, and the Pew classification of a group as Christian is a counting convention and not a statement about how other churches regard it.

Pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical

Pew Research Center defines Pentecostals as members of Protestant denominations or independent churches that teach all Christians should seek a post-conversion experience called baptism of the Holy Spirit, which may bring gifts such as prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues. Charismatics belong to non-Pentecostal churches, including Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches, and share some Pentecostal beliefs and practices.

Evangelicals are defined by Pew as Christians who see a born-again conversion as central to salvation, hold the Bible as God's authority, and are strongly committed to sharing the faith. The three groups overlap. Pew's 2010 estimates, drawn from another research center, were about 279 million Pentecostals, 305 million charismatics and 285 million evangelicals, and the categories are not mutually exclusive.

Terms for healing rites

The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls its rite of healing for the seriously ill the Anointing of the Sick, and the Orthodox Church in America calls its rite Holy Unction. Both texts cite the Letter of James, which tells the sick to call the elders of the church to pray and anoint them with oil. Dein and Brown use the phrase divine healing for the healing that Pentecostal and charismatic communities report.

Catholic practice

The Catechism states that only priests, meaning presbyters and bishops, may give the Anointing of the Sick, using oil blessed by a bishop or, if necessary, by the celebrating priest. It says the sacrament is appropriate for a Christian who is seriously ill or elderly, and that it may be received again if the illness worsens. The Catechism quotes James 5:14 to 15 as the scriptural basis of the rite.

Orthodox practice

The Orthodox Church in America describes Holy Unction as offered to those sick in body or mind and not reserved for the dying, and as distinct from last rites. Its traditional form calls for seven priests, seven readings, seven prayers and seven anointings, although parishes often use fewer priests. The church also teaches that the rite sanctifies suffering and unites it with the suffering of Christ.

Protestant and Anglican practice

Protestant churches differ widely, and the sources reviewed here do not document official healing rites for any Protestant denomination. Reformation-era sources reviewed describe the origin of several Protestant churches but not their healing practice. Dein and Brown report that Christians in the United Kingdom and United States often pray for guidance of medical professionals and for coping, and that Pentecostals describe using prayer alongside biomedicine.

Pentecostal and charismatic practice

In a ten-country Pew survey, large majorities of Pentecostals said they had personally experienced or witnessed divine healing of an illness or injury, from 56 percent in South Korea to 87 percent in Kenya. Fewer charismatics, and fewer other Christians, reported this. In seven of the ten countries at least half of Pentecostals said their services frequently included spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues. Related practices have their own pages on this site, including Prayer and Forgiveness, and this page gives no procedures.

What the churches say healing rites are for

The Catechism lists the effects of the Anointing of the Sick as union with the passion of Christ, strength and peace in suffering, forgiveness of sins not yet forgiven through the sacrament of penance, preparation for eternal life, and, if conducive to the salvation of the soul, the restoration of health. Recovery is therefore presented as a possible effect and not a promise.

The Orthodox Church in America states that the express purpose of Holy Unction is healing and forgiveness, and that physical healing is not always God's will, so the prayer that God's will be done frames the rite. The same text says healing is possible if faith is strong and God wills it, but is not assured.

What believers report praying for

Dein and Brown's critical review of the literature and a survey of 1,700 evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom reports that prayers for the guidance of medical professionals and for coping are more common than prayers for recovery. Believers explain unanswered prayer in several ways, and the authors relate these explanations to cognitive dissonance, preserving a relationship with God, and limiting disappointment. The authors also report that healing is central to Pentecostal growth in the Global South, where poverty-related illness is common and treatment is limited.

Trials of intercessory prayer

A Cochrane review of ten randomized trials with 7,646 participants compared intercessory prayer added to routine care with routine care alone. For death, six trials (6,784 participants) found no clear effect and heterogeneous results (relative risk 0.77, 95 percent confidence interval 0.51 to 1.16). Five trials found no significant difference in general clinical state. The reviewers concluded that the evidence did not support a recommendation for or against intercessory prayer and were not convinced that further trials should be conducted.

The largest single trial enrolled 1,802 coronary bypass patients at six United States hospitals. Complications within 30 days occurred in 52 percent of patients who might receive prayer and did receive it and 51 percent of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95 percent confidence interval 0.92 to 1.15). Patients certain they would receive prayer had more complications, 59 percent, than those who were uncertain. Only the PubMed abstract was read for this entry.

Religious involvement and health

A narrative review by Harold Koenig of quantitative studies from 1872 to 2010 reports that most studies link religious involvement with greater well-being and less depression and substance use, and that frequent attendance at religious services was associated with higher survival across three reviews. Findings on psychosis and physical functioning are mixed.

Koenig cautions that many studies are cross-sectional, so it is often unclear whether religion affects health, health affects religion, or both reflect other factors. He also notes that religion can foster guilt and anxiety, enable group control, and delay diagnosis and effective mental health care. These findings concern religious involvement in general and are not specific to Christianity or to any healing rite.

What has not been studied

PubMed searches for randomized trials of anointing, laying on of hands, healing services or divine healing in Christian or Pentecostal settings returned no results, and a search for Christian-adapted psychotherapy trials was not reviewed in full. The sources reviewed therefore contain no controlled evidence on sacramental anointing or charismatic healing services. Pew survey findings report what believers say they have experienced and do not test whether illness changed.

Faith healing in place of medical care

A pediatric review in Pediatrics examined 172 children who died between 1975 and 1995 in families that withheld medical care because of reliance on religious rituals. The authors estimated that 140 died of conditions with survival rates above 90 percent with medical care, and that 18 more had expected survival above 50 percent. The cases came from referral and record searches, so the review does not measure how common the practice is among Christians. Only the PubMed abstract was read for this entry.

The Catholic and Orthodox texts reviewed here present anointing as an addition to prayer and do not tell the sick to refuse treatment. Dein and Brown report that Pentecostals generally use prayer alongside biomedicine, though many Christians feel ambivalence about medicine and worry that relying on it weakens faith.

Effects of knowing about prayer

In the coronary bypass trial, patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer had a higher rate of complications than patients uncertain of receiving it. The trial authors present this as an association and do not claim prayer caused harm.

Religious coping and group control

Koenig lists documented negative aspects of religious involvement: justification of prejudice, guilt and anxiety, rigid thinking, cult control and delayed mental health care. He recommends taking a brief spiritual history in clinical care, respecting patients' beliefs and avoiding coercion. Sources reviewed here do not report costs or financial exploitation tied to healing ministries, and this page does not claim they do not occur.

This page does not suggest that prayer or a church rite should delay or replace necessary medical care. The sources reviewed do not cover chaplaincy standards, safeguarding policies of individual churches, or training requirements for those who lead healing ministries.