spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

heart. Calvin in particular was very clear on this matter: any expectation of the Spirit’s efficacies
in relation to the exterior was a distraction that led believers away from true worship. His
cessationist position had a major impact on Reformed thought. The soul-focused agency of the
Spirit also led to the use of metaphorical language about healing in Reformed theology: the soul,
sick of sin, was healed by the Spirit, which means that the believer is transformed to new life.
Talk about healing as physical and concrete (and sometimes direct) change was disregarded in
Reformed theology, also due to the influence of Modernity in general (which implied the
rejection of the supernatural, the subjective, and the inexplicable), and the successes of medical
science in particular. Even Reformed pneumatological thought reveals the great impact of
medical science: the developments within the medical disciplines are perceived as the
providence of the Spirit in creation (common grace in the pneumatologies of Calvin and
Kuyper), and the medical agency of doctors and nurses are seen as gift of the Spirit (in the
pneumatologies of Barth and Moltmann). Veenhof’s pneumatology is open to the healing
efficacies of the Spirit in human existence, but he explicitly mentions that the believer’s prayer
for healing by the Spirit does not contradict but includes the labor of medical personnel.
Reformed cessationism is not only explained by a particular understanding of the Spirit’s agency
or by the influence of Modernity, but it has also to do with the notion of eschatology in the work
of the Spirit. Reformed pneumatologies do not reflect a realized eschatology, but rather a
discontinuity between creation and the kingdom of God (De Vries 2006:356), where the work of
the Spirit is seen as provisional signals of God’s ultimate reign. Even though the covenant
relationship between God and man warrants a certain continuity, the good creation has become
corrupt. Disease and suffering are witness to this condition, and they make it impossible to speak
of God’s (fully) realized salvation in creation. True health and healing belong to the age of
consummation and perfection of creation.
New ways of speaking about the Spirit and healing
Some central motifs in Reformed pneumatologies have been highlighted as contours or purple
threads of a Reformed pneumatological matrix. The question that emerges now concerns the
possibilities to speak of Spirit and healing within this Reformed pattern. The overview of the
various Reformed pneumatologies revealed that the theme of the Spirit and healing does not
occupy a prominent place in Reformed thought. Yet the overview also showed that the Spirit’s
work is understood as having a wide scope in terms of soteriology and the cosmos. What
opportunities does the Reformed pneumatological matrix offer for exploring the relationship
between Spirit and healing? What limitations are to be considered?
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