Editorial Reviews
Review
“Anthropologist Turner aims to convince readers of the truth and factuality of spiritual and ritual healing. For evidence, the author draws on her extensive experiences in a variety of fieldwork locations and on an array of excerpts from writings by anthropologists and ritual practitioners. She classifies healing experiences by cause--energy, power, or spirits--highlighting throughout the book the role of communities rather than religion, region, or time period....For readers who seek evidence that people worldwide experience divinely inspired healing, the book will have appeal. The text may encourage readers interested in a particular kind of healing experience to pursue the author's original text and argument, which offers a way of popularizing this often-arcane area of the anthropology of religion....Recommended. General Readers.”–
“In order to "make the exotic familiar and to make the familiar exotic," the editor of the Anthropology and Humanism journal, shares lessons she learned from studying diverse spiritual healing traditions. In her experiential approach, Turner includes her own and other anthropologists' accounts, from the "singing out" of spirits in patients in Africa to alternative healing in the U.S. The 23 stories address the themes of energy, experiencing power, transmitting power, spirits, and community. Several b&w photos feature healers, their herbs and rituals.”–
Book Description
Every day, everywhere in the world, people deal with sickness (both physical and mental), and must choose ways to address the illnesses from which they suffer. Some will go to doctors, take medicine, have surgery. Others will do nothing. Still others try a combination of prayer and medical attention. And some communities rely on religious, spiritual, and ritual healing methods that employ various techniques to heal their loved ones. Here, a renowned anthropologist takes the reader on a tour of the myriad spiritual healing traditions from around the world. Lessons from communities in rural Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Israel, Russia, Africa, and the U.S. will provide a road map for readers as they navigate through the many traditions, rituals, and sacred mysteries of healing.
Among the Healers : Stories of Spiritual and Ritual Healing around the World (Religion, Health, and Healing)
Among the Healers: Stories of Spiritual and Ritual Healing around the World (Religion, Health, and Healing),Edith Turner,Praeger Publishers,0275987299,Alternate Spirituality,Alternative medicine,Healing - Prayer & Spiritual,History,Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric,Military,Military - General,Spiritual healing,History / Military / General
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