“Therapeutic Touch” and Christianity
“Therapeutic touch”, as the term is used by medical professionals, does not literally mean “touching therapeutically”. It’s not like giving a hug or a massage. Therapeutic Touch is a term of art for a host of eastern spiritual practices, Reiki being the most prominent, that depend on sensing and/or harnessing a person’s “energy” or “chi.”
Practicing Therapeutic Touch is not like celebrating Christmas or Halloween - holidays that have pagan associations and origins but can be enjoyed without participating in pagan practice. Therapeutic Touch necessarily involves embracing and applying eastern monistic ideas about cosmic energy and the body. If you’re a Christian who practices therapeutic touch, please read this article from the Christian Research Journal:
Therapeutic Touch is described in the literature as a derivative of the laying-on of hands, or as an ancient mode of healing recaptured and revised.6 No actual physical contact occurs between the person doing Therapeutic Touch and its recipient, but touch is involved if one believes in an assumption foundational to its practice — people “do not stop at their skins.”What is actually touched is believed to be a person’s energy field.
Long-time practitioners of Therapeutic Touch maintain that the human body is simply a localized expression of a universal energy system. The body is built up and maintained by nourishment but penetrated and kept alive by an energy called prana (a Sanskrit word meaning “vital force”) that flows through and is transformed by energy centers in the body called chakras (Sanskrit for “circle” or “wheel”). Healthy people have an overabundance of prana; ill people have a deficit. A person with an overabundance of prana can deliberately, with conscious intent, transfer this energy to a patient. The energy flow surrounding the ill person can be perceived, that is, intuitively assessed and directed through the hands of a healer in the absence of any physical contact…see more
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11 comments
I’ll bet this touch would be more therapeutic if it was done in a labyrinth
I remember this being done in a church I attended, with the full “blessing” of the pastor. Back then it was called “healing touch.” They hooked up the practitioner with the existing Stephen Ministry. When some of us objected to it being non-Christian, we were labeled as fundamentalists. At my next church, they wanted to start yoga classes and when some of us objected on spiritual grounds, the fundamentalist sobriquet was again used. If you are thinking these must have been TEC parishes, you are incorrect. They were supposedly “mainstream”, large United Methodist congregations. If I were more talented with video, I could see doing a YouTube series called “The Exorcist - Mainline Protestant Edition.”
[1] Posted by Daniel on 9-6-2012 at 09:35 AM · [top]
While touching itself might be therapeutic, the hypothesis presented by proponents of “Therapeutic touch” is not compatible with the theology of Christian healing.
Also if you are a Christian practitioner of therapeutic touch, please read this statement from the American Cancer Society about the lack of evidence for efficacy of the practice as far as cancer patients are concerned.
[2] Posted by Undergroundpewster on 9-6-2012 at 10:53 AM · [top]
Theology of Christian healing? Expound further please.
[3] Posted by iamaworm on 9-6-2012 at 11:23 AM · [top]
I do not practice “Therapeutic Touch” but I do know (despite what some rationalists might claim) that the charisma of healing has gone on beyond the Apostolic Era. The laying-on of hands, anointing with oil, and prayer for healing are part of the therapeutic armamentarium of Christianity.
I don’t know how to speak about qi in Judeo-Christian terms. Therefore, I don’t try. There’s no need to incorporate eastern terminology, philosophy, religion, or spiritual practice into our western Christian tradition.
I likewise don’t do tai-ji-quan or yoga. These are said to be relaxing, but I don’t have the coordination for the former, or the flexibility for the latter.
[4] Posted by Ralph on 9-6-2012 at 11:33 AM · [top]
#3 Re: Theology of Christian healing, expound further.
We run the risk of driving the thread off topic, but in order to recognize that something is definitely not Christian healing, an idea of just what Christian healing is would be useful. I think the exposition you ask for would call for a dedicated post, and perhaps Matt or one of our more qualified writers can delve into that at some point in the future.
Here is a short article from the Fulcrum site. That might start you on your way.
[5] Posted by Undergroundpewster on 9-6-2012 at 12:35 PM · [top]
Wait a sec, when the Church tries to practice therapy, they end up with neither therapy nor Christianity but narcissism instead?
Let me guess… when you’re sick, these people talk up the medicine/healing angle, but when they hurt you, they claim First Amendment religious practice protection against malpractice lawsuits. I know it’s tricky involving the government in religious observance, but the second someone starts claiming healing potential, they should be subject to hard-core civil liability.
[6] Posted by The Plantagenets on 9-6-2012 at 02:01 PM · [top]
Therapeutic touch is manifestly different from what the NT gift of healing. There is no feeling about for aura’s or harnessing a persons force or energy.
Healing from the Christian perspective is a divine act. It has nothing to do with chi or energy forces or vibes. God simply heals. He does it directly. He does it through prayer. He can do it through the laying on of hands. But he does it. There are no “practicioners” of Christian healing nor do Christians ever seek to harness or avail themselves of any power save the power of Christ.
[7] Posted by Matt Kennedy on 9-6-2012 at 03:14 PM · [top]
Matt, now you need to address “theophostic prayer.”
[8] Posted by Joel on 9-6-2012 at 04:51 PM · [top]
When I am able to put my left foot behind my right ear, then I will comment about yoga.
[9] Posted by MichaelA on 9-6-2012 at 06:38 PM · [top]
I just googled “theophostic prayer” and within ten seconds saw this, enough to flee it and never look back:
No responsibility without risk!
[10] Posted by The Plantagenets on 9-6-2012 at 10:21 PM · [top]
The body is built up and maintained by nourishment but penetrated and kept alive by an energy ....
That reminds me of sci-fi movies, or perhaps how Voldemort wants to stay alive long enough to whack Harry Potter…..
[11] Posted by maineiac on 9-8-2012 at 04:07 PM · [top]
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