Healing & The Holy Spirit

" I am the Lord, your Healer" (Exodus 15: 22-27)

Healing and the Holy Spirit

(IST 2178; 2 Credits)

Spring Term 2019 - Residential Course

**Weekend Praxis with Hybrid Component on Canvas**

Note-Well:

• This is a "Residential" course that will roll-out on Canvas during the first few weeks of the 2019 Spring Term from Monday April 1st thru Wednesday April 11th, 2019.
• The course will then conclude with our two required on-campus weekend class-sessions on Friday April 12th (1 pm-4:30 pm), and on Saturday April 13th (9 am-4:30 pm).
• In order to receive full-credit for this course, full-attendance during the April 12th and April 13th on-campus class sessions is required.
• This class will be graded Pass/Fail.

Classroom Location: Bartlett Lounge on Second Floor of Iliff Hall.

Instructor: Albert Hernández, Ph.D.

Office: Iliff Hall, Room 111. Office Hours: -- By Appointment--

Course Description/Synopsis:

This course focuses on beliefs, ideas, and practices at the intersections of pneumatology and healing. What is the relationship of the Holy Spirit to historic and contemporary notions of healing?  What does Christian tradition demonstrate about the care of the sick and the treatment of certain maladies in conjunction with Christian notions of balancing the needs of the body with those of the mind and the heart?  Themes of faith and spirituality will be examined alongside contemporary themes of wellness, wholeness, and holistic medicine. Professionally certified representatives from the fields of nursing and medicine will be featured as guest speakers.

Course Learning Objectives:

1. Students will acquire a basic understanding of the major themes and terms in Christian pneumatology, with a special focus on Christian conceptions of "healing" in relationship to the Biblical tradition and to the Holy Spirit.

2. Students will examine and discuss the changing professional definitions and epistemological discourses among traditional/historic notions of Christian faith and "healing" practices alongside contemporary/scientific notions of medical knowledge and "healing" as well as best-practices for clergy health and wellness.

3. Following Wolfhart Pannenberg's theological ideas about the presence of the Third Person of the Trinity, Holy Spirit, as a "force-field" in human life and in the world-at-large, students will examine and discuss emergent practices and scientific evidence from the domains of energy-medicine, Reiki therapies, and neuro-theology. 

4. Students will listen to and interact with certified medical professionals on themes/topics ranging from the relationship of faith and medicine to promoting health and wholeness among theological school students and professional clergy.

5.  Through small-group and larger-group discussions/interaction, students will apply their learnings in this course to the wider one or more of their respective professional and praxis areas such as (but not limited to) the following domains:  preaching/teaching, spiritual direction, prayer/worship, pastoral care/counseling, professional nursing or professional medical practice, and community ministries in secular settings.         

Evaluation and Final Assignment:

Required Course Textbooks and Readings:

There will be no required textbooks to purchase for this course. The instructor will provide all of the required readings thru the "Files" tab on our Canvas course site or by way of links to online resources and internet sites.

Suggested Additional Readings: (Optional texts; Not required)

Daniel B. Hinshaw, M.D. Touch and the Healing of the World. Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2017.

Frederick J. Gaiser, Healing in the Bible: Theological Insight for Christian Ministry. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

Luke Timothy Johnson, Miracles: God's Presence and Power in Creation. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018.

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Spirit and Salvation. A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, Vol. 4. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2016.

Measuring the Immeasurable: The Scientific Case for Spirituality. By Daniel Goleman, et. al. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2008.

James L. Oschman, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. Second Edition. London: Elsevier, 2016.

Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness. Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.