Miracle Cures - Saints, Pilgrimage, and the Healing Powers of Belief

1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-520-26275-1
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 541 g

Iconic images of medieval pilgrims, such as Chaucer’s making their laborious way to Canterbury, conjure a distant time when faith was the only refuge of the ill and infirm, and thousands traveled great distances to pray for healing. Why, then, in an age of advanced biotechnology and medicine, do millions still go on pilgrimages? Why do journeys to important religious shrines—such as Lourdes, Compostela, Fátima, and Medjugorje—constitute a major industry? In Miracle Cures, Robert A. Scott explores these provocative questions and finds that pilgrimage continues to offer answers for many. Its benefits can range from a demonstrable improvement in health to complete recovery. Using research in biomedical and behavioral science, Scott examines accounts of miracle cures at medieval, early modern, and contemporary shrines. He inquires into the power of relics, apparitions, and the transformative nature of sacred journeying and shines new light on the roles belief, hope, and emotion can play in healing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Scott, Robert A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue

Part One / Appealing to Saints for Miracles
1. Life in the Middle Ages
2. Saints
3. Apparitions
4. Pilgrimage and Shrines

Part Two / Saints and Healing
5. Disease
6. The Role of Stress in Illness
7. Belief, Hope, and Healing
8. Framing, Confessing, Self-Efficacy, and Healing

Coda
Appendix: Accounts of Miracles at Medieval Shrines
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Robert A. Scott, a sociologist, was for 18 years the deputy director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Among other books, he is the author of The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral (UC Press).