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Interest in studying prayer has significantly increased because of the belief that it helps humanity to cope, particularly in times of crisis. Prayer is not just a communication with God, it is also an instrument of bond and embodied ritual among prayer litigants or people who belong to the same religious community. This article argues that divine violence, a sovereign act of God, was crucially needed by the litigants in order to guarantee human flourishing in the face of existential threat. The article studied how violent prayer—a genre of prayer that is targeted at the spirits underlying physical manifestation of suffering, pain, or crisis—was utilised by the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFMM) in Nigeria to cope with the fear and uncertainties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is part of an ongoing ethnographic research on "The Politics and Poetics of Violent Prayer in the Nigerian Pentecostal Churches", which began in 2021. I utilised ethnographic engagement, particularly interviews and participant observation, to attempt to understand what these prayer litigants are doing when they pray violently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is about originality and contents of a well-known episode in the Mahābhārata: The episode in the aftermath of the first dicing contest from the Sabhāparvan in which Duḥśāsana, ordered by Karṇa, attempts to disrobe Draupadī in the Kuru Sabhā. The paper shows that the episode in question is not only interpolated in the text of the Mahābhārata relatively recently; it was interpolated in two separate steps. The first step was the interpolation of the version in which, as Duḥśāsana started to disrobe Draupadī, a miracle took place and Duḥśāsana, try as he might, was unable to disrobe her; the second step was the interpolation of Draupadī's prayer and Kr̥ṣṇa's intervention from the popular version of that episode as the source of that miracle. The paper also shows that the Critical Edition of the Mahābhārata contains much more data supporting the preceding conclusions than has been hitherto recognised. The paper explores the implications of these findings for the basic rules used by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata to construct its critically reconstituted text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews a book titled "Saint Simon de Montfort: The Miracles, Laments, Prayers and Hymns," edited and translated by David Cox. The book includes the first printed translation of the miracles of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, along with other materials relevant to Montfort's cult. The volume provides insight into the relatively short-lived cult that developed around Montfort, who defeated King Henry III of England in battle in 1264 but was killed the following year at the Battle of Evesham. The book contains translations of miracles, laments, prayers, and hymns associated with Montfort, shedding light on the significance of this rebel baron's cult. [Extracted from the article]

Causality is not only a central concept in philosophy and theology but also a basic aspect of human thought and speech. Causal words such as ‘making’, ‘doing’, ‘producing’, and so on, are in constant use. Philosophers have been discussing causality ever since philosophy began. Theologians require a notion of causality to speak of God’s action in the creation and governance of the world. This article will first provide a brief review of the history of the idea of causality in Western thought and then consider how our understanding of that idea has influenced the discussion of God’s action. Western thought may be divided historically into two basic parts: classical/medieval and modern/contemporary. Although there is no strict dividing line, the Scientific Revolution may be taken as a marker. This division agrees with Menno Hulswit’s observation that ‘two decisive milestones mark the history of causality: the Aristotelian (-scholastic) Conception (I), and the Scientific Conception (II)’ (Hulswit 2004: 6). In the first period, the article will concentrate especially on the thought of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas who present the most developed notion of causality. In the second period, it will consider how the understanding of causality was influenced by the rise of modern science (see The History of Science and Theology). The article will show how the broad, classical understanding of causality narrowed with the advent of modern science but is now expanding again through the discoveries of contemporary science. It will then consider how the fortunes of the concept of causality have affected the discussion of divine action. In that context, it will take particular note of the understanding of God’s causality in scripture, prayer, and miracles.

As a continuation of the previous paper, Praying for a Miracle – Negative or Positive Impacts on Health Care, published in this research topic, this second paper aims at delving deeper into the same theme, but now from a simultaneously practical and conceptual approach. With that in mind, we revisit three theoretical models based on evidence, through which we can understand the role of a miracle in hospital settings and assess its impact in health contexts. For each of the models described, we seek to illustrate the possible outcomes of belief in miracles as a modality of religious coping in situations of stress and suffering experienced by patients and caregivers in the face of gloomy diagnoses on coming across the limits of medicine to revert certain illnesses (e.g., child cancer) or biological conditions (e.g., fetal malformation). We posit that the judgment about how such a mechanism is healthy or not for each of the people involved (patient, caregiver, and/or health professional) depends on the modulation between the conception of the miracle adopted by the patient and/or caregiver and the concrete outcomes of the way of responding to the situations that accompany the gravity of the illness or condition. To better understand this process of psychological modulation that accompanies belief in miracles, we revisit the concepts of spirituality, religiosity, and religion, pointing out the connections and distinctions between them from a phenomenological perspective. We then present a conceptual model that takes these connections and distinctions into consideration to foster an understanding of miracles, their relations with the diversity of experiences of people who meet in hospital settings (patients, caregivers, and health professionals), and their respective impacts on healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The belief in miracle, as a modality of spiritual/religious coping (SRC) strategy in the face of stress and psychic suffering, has been discussed in psychological literature with regard to its positive or negative role on the health and well-being of patients and family members. In contemporary times, where pseudo-conflicts between religion and science should have been long overcome, there is still some tendency of interpreting belief in miracle – as the possibility of a cure granted by divine intervention, modifying the normal course of events in a bleak medical diagnosis – as having unhealthy impacts in the care and treatment of health. This position seeks to find a base in the three characteristics of hoping in a miracle, frequently pointed out by psychological literature: (a) it would imply a negation of reality instead of its confrontation; (b) it would be a coping strategy focused on emotion instead of the problem; (c) it would imply seeking to modify the supposed desire of God by extra-natural facts. In this study, we shall critically discuss this position and the dangers of its crystallization by the use of SRC scales in which the act of praying for a miracle is previously classified as a negative strategy. We revisit some tendencies in psychological literature about the subject, taking into consideration the various facets of miracle, sociocultural facts, elements of idiographic nature, and their profound outcomes in the lives of people especially in health contexts. We illustrate the dangers of a hasty generalization of the results of nomothetic studies about the role of belief in miracle with two examples of research in the Brazilian context: one carried out with pregnant women with fetal malformation and the other with family members caring for children and adolescents with cancer under chemotherapeutic treatment. In both studies, the results do not confirm the predominance of the negative aspects associated with the act of praying for a miracle, which we discuss and analyze in light of the phenomenological perspective. In this perspective, "pray for a miracle", as experienced by patients and caregivers, can be recognized as an act of openness to life (instead of isolation in a bleak perspective), bolstering hope, and the resignification of reality in the psyche. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Al-Anbar University for Islamic Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay responds to Michael J. Balboni and Tracy A. Balboni's Hostility to Hospitality: Spirituality and Professional Socialization within Medicine (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018). The essay reflects on three themes: structural pluralism, miracles, and empirical research. First, it expands on the Balbonis' proposal of structural pluralism by accentuating the importance of transparency, voluntarism, and an opt-in model of informed consent. Second, it distinguishes "cessationist" from "pentecostal" Christian worldviews, and it probes the presuppositions and ramifications of the Balbonis' explicit and implicit theologies of medicine and miracles. Third, the essay builds on the Balbonis' concern with empirical research to chart a path forward in better understanding the relationship between miracles and medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian faith supports the idea that God is always at work in the world. God invites people into relationship with him and then to join in his work. Three nurses relay supernatural events where God worked in and through their nursing practice, reinforcing the understanding of what author Henry Blackaby calls experiencing God. Christian nurses are called to enter deeply into relationship with God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Bahith Journal is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Islamic Sciences (22259732) is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Islamic Sciences (22259732) is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is written by the parent of two babies who died in infancy from an untreatable congenital illness. The author is a Christian and the article focuses on the manner in which parental prayers for a miracle, hospital care, and church affiliation interacted in this context. While the care of church and hospital was a deep boon, nevertheless, the collision and—even more so—the collusion between the reality outlooks, epistemic assumptions, and authority structures of the church and the hospital produced what I will call the wounds of faith and the wounds of medicine. A balm does not remove a scar, nor does it restore a limb that is amputated. But a balm sees a wound for what it is and enables the sufferer to live with that wound. In this analogy, the balm refuses to provide an “answer” that dissolves either the wound of faith or the wound of medicine. An appreciation of paradox—both in the context of faith and the context of medicine—is the only balm that this author has found to be healing. Yet, the paradox is profoundly problematic to both faith and medicine in the modern Western context. This article concludes with an attempt to understand why the very idea of the paradoxical is so hard for us modern Western people to recognize, let alone live with constructively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As the spiritual care needs of patients and their loved ones have become an essential component of palliative care, clinicians are being challenged to develop new ways of addressing the spiritual issues that often arise in the palliative care setting. Recent research has given attention to the communication strategies that are effective with patients or their loved ones who report that they are seeking a miraculous physical healing. However, these strategies often assume a unilateral rather than collaborative view of divine intervention. Communication strategies that are effective with unilateral understandings of divine intervention may be contraindicated with those who hold to a collaborative view of divine intervention. Greater attention to language of human-divine interaction along with approaching faith healing as a third modality of treatment are explored as additional interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In volume 27, number 2 (2011) we invited readers to submit responses to Robert Larmer, 'Miracles, Divine Agency, and the Laws of Nature'-the Jay Newman Inaugural Address delivered at the Canadian Theological Society, when it met at the Learned Societies Congress, Fredericton, NB, June 2010, and published in said issue. What follow are three responses and a reply: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the belief of saints and miracles. The author discusses how she was raised Catholic, believing in saints and miracles, but is unsure of her religious beliefs today. She reflects on how her daughter's tumor impacted her beliefs, making her more accepting of prayer and open to the idea of miracles.

Religious traditions across the world display beliefs in healing through prayer. The healing powers of prayer have been examined in triple-blind, randomized controlled trials. We illustrate randomized controlled trials on prayer and healing, with one study in each of different categories of outcome. We provide a critical analysis of the scientific and philosophical dimensions of such research. Prayer has been reported to improve outcomes in human as well as nonhuman species, to have no effect on outcomes, to worsen outcomes and to have retrospective healing effects. For a multitude of reasons, research on the healing effects of prayer is riddled with assumptions, challenges and contradictions that make the subject a scientific and religious minefield. We believe that the research has led nowhere, and that future research, if any, will forever be constrained by the scientific limitations that we outline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the claims of miraculous acts of physical healing. Approaches to healing; Basic time sequences in prayer for healing; Discussion on the need for hospitals despite the presence and existence of God.

Background: Medical advances have led to new challenges in decision-making for parents of seriously ill children. Many parents say religion and spirituality (R&S) influence their decisions, but the mechanism and outcomes of this influence are unknown. Health care providers (HCPs) often feel unprepared to discuss R&S with parents or address conflicts between R&S beliefs and clinical recommendations. Our study sought to illuminate the influence of R&S on parental decision-making and explore how HCPs interact with parents for whom R&S are important. Methods: A longitudinal, qualitative, descriptive design was used to (1) identify R&S factors affecting parental decision-making, (2) observe changes in R&S themes over time, and (3) learn about HCP perspectives on parental R&S. The study sample included 16 cases featuring children with complex life-threatening conditions. The length of study for each case varied, ranging in duration from 8 to 531 days (median = 380, mean = 324, SD = 174). Data from each case included medical records and sets of interviews conducted at least monthly with mothers (n = 16), fathers (n = 12), and HCPs (n = 108). Thematic analysis was performed on 363 narrative interviews to identify R&S themes and content related to decision-making. Results: Parents from 13 cases reported R&S directly influenced decision-making. Most HCPs were unaware of this influence. Fifteen R&S themes appeared in parent and HCP transcripts. Themes most often associated with decision-making were Hope & Faith, God is in Control, Miracles, and Prayer. Despite instability in the child’s condition, these themes remained consistently relevant across the trajectory of illness. R&S influenced decisions about treatment initiation, procedures, and life-sustaining therapy, but the variance in effect of R&S on parents’ choices ultimately depended upon other medical & non-medical factors. Conclusions: Parents consider R&S fundamental to decision-making, but apply R&S concepts in vague ways, suggesting R&S impact how decisions are made more than what decisions are made. Lack of clarity in parental expressions of R&S does not necessarily indicate insincerity or underestimation of the seriousness of the child’s prognosis; R&S can be applied to decision-making in both functional and dysfunctional ways. We present three models of how religious and spiritual vagueness functions in parental decision-making and suggest clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's perspective as an atheist about miracles. The author says she does not believe in miracles, stating that it is all about luck. Also discussed is the people's concept of luck that is akin to a luck field circling Earth such as the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The author is skeptical to the people who pray for her when she was in coma.

The article presents the author's insights regarding the implications of the canonization of Mary MacKillop on Catholicism in Australia. He emphasizes that the declaration of MacKillop to be saint implies that Catholics are publicly declaring their peculiar beliefs in holiness, life after death, miracles and power of prayer. He notes that the canonization of MacKillop is a provocation, a celebration of beliefs that do not suit in contemporary Australia which annoy many people particularly the anti-Catholicism.