spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

The centrality of the motif of transformation in missionary medicine discourse has its
background in Reformed thought on conversion and transformation. In Reformed thought,
transformation is conceptualized as the process of reorientation of life, after the believer has
accepted what Christ has done for the salvation of the believer. This transformation is a gradual
process of change that is part of the union with Christ, following the conversion to the triune
God. The role of the Holy Spirit is perceived as crucial in the process of transformation.
In the exploration of new avenues for expressing the link between Spirit and healing, the
centrality of the motif of transformation in missionary medicine discourse evokes certain
questions that will be addressed in this chapter. These question are: what exactly is meant with
‘transformation’ in Reformed pneumatological discourse? To what extent do Reformed
pneumatological perceptions of transformation provide space for categories of physicality and
materiality? Or is it in Reformed pneumatology only possible to speak of transformation in
metaphorical language?
8.2 TRANSFORMATION IN REFORMED PNEUMATOLOGY
Reformed understanding of the transformation of the believer starts with God’s history of
redemption. In line with biblical testimony, the emphasis is on God’s saving work. The theme of
God’s salvation is central in the Scriptures, where we witness what God has done for us, with
Christ’s suffering and resurrection as the climax. The biblical breadth of salvation implies that
salvation (salus as health and wholeness) is not only to be understood in personal terms but also
in cosmic terms: God’s desire for wholeness includes the transformation of humans in their
relationship with God and other persons, as well as the restoration of all of creation (Plantinga
2010:313-320).
8.2.1 Justification and spiritual transformation
In classic Protestant theology, the moment of justification became a central tenet of salvation,
because it emphasized God’s initiative in the salvation of mankind. Luther’s rediscovery of the
Pauline notion of justification by faith was a retrieval of the idea that only God is the One who
graciously saves, and who can make a sinner righteous; the believer him- or herself is not able to
contribute to his or her salvation by works or other merits, let alone achieve it. No one is able to
justify oneself before God. The doctrine of justification received a normative status (Dunn
1998:332), and came to play a crucial role in Reformed understanding of salvation. McGrath
(2005:1f) describes the importance of the doctrine of justification for Protestant theology as
follows: “the Christian doctrine of justification (…) constitutes the real centre of the theological
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