spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

CHAPTER 6. A REFORMED PNEUMATOLOGICAL MATRIX
This chapter is an exploration of the potential of Reformed theology in relation to the theme of
healing. The main focus here is on the person and the work of the Holy Spirit from a Reformed
perspective. The increasing attention on the Holy Spirit in current Reformed theology suggests
there is considerably more to explore concerning the efficacies of the Spirit. Recent publications
on the Spirit of God presented constructive perspectives, and drew attention to these possibilities
that are not yet fully explored (cf. Welker 2006a; Cooke 2008; Jensen 2008; Kim 2011). The
relationship between God’s Spirit and health within the Reformed matrix is one such possibility.
The generally accepted ways of speaking about health and healing in relation to God have so far
been determined by contributions about Jesus as a healer, about biblical miracles of healing, and
about the mission of the church to offer healing and a healing community 34 . These Christological
and ecclesiological approaches address important aspects of the relationship between God and
health, such as a holistic perspective on healing, the theme of God and the origin of disease and
suffering, the meaning of sin in relation to disease, the Kingdom perspective, and ecumenical
dialogue with regard to the mission of the universal church. Generally it can be said that if in
Reformed theology the work of the Spirit is at all associated with the theme of health, the
emphasis is either on the redemptive acts of the Spirit, or on the Pentecost outpouring of the
Spirit in relation to the birth of the church and its mission. The assumption of this research is that
more can be said about the works of the Spirit of God in relation to health and healing when
pneumatological language is infused with additional motifs from the African health discourses.
The main task in this chapter is to identify the characteristics of Reformed pneumatology in
order to become more aware of the promises and the limitations of Reformed pneumatological
approaches to healing. How is the Holy Spirit viewed within the Reformed tradition? What
determines the identity of Reformed theology and how does this influence one’s understanding of
34. See, for example, sources such as Twelftree, GH 1993. Jesus the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the
Historical Jesus. Tübingen: Mohr; Kollmann, B 1996. Jesus und die Christen als Wundertäter. Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; Richardson, RL 1999. Jesus as Healer: An Image of Holistic Care for the Sick.
Chaplaincy Today 15 (2). 4-11; Van Laar, W 2005. Kerken als heelmakende gemeenschappen. Impulsen voor een
integraal verstaan van healing vanuit de wereldkerk. Soteria 22 (1). 17-29; special issue on ‘The Global Health
Situation and the Mission of the Church in the 21st Century’. International Review of Mission 95 (376/377) 2006;
special issue on ‘Theology, Health and Healing’. Religion and Theology 13 (1) 2006; Moxnes, H 2010. Ethnography
and Historical Imagination in Reading Jesus as an Exorcist. Neotestamentica 44 (2). 327-341.
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