spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

CHAPTER 10. THE SPIRIT AND POWER
This chapter is an exploration into Reformed articulations on healing in the African context. It
follows the same methodological approach as the previous chapters in Part II of this thesis: the
presupposition being that the engagement of health discourses, within the context of Africa, with
Reformed theology will be fruitful in the exploration of Reformed pneumatological articulations
on God and healing. More explicitly, this chapter centralizes the notion of power as a key to
unlocking Reformed pneumatological thinking on healing. The notion of power as a key is
derived from the church-based healing discourse (as described in Chapter 5). At the beginning of
the chapter, the central position of the motif of power in the church-based healing discourse will
be recaptured briefly, and subsequently the meaning of the notion of power for Reformed
thought about healing will be explored from a pneumatological perspective.
10.1 POWER AND THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE
On the basis of the description of the church-based healing discourse (see Chapter 5), it became
clear that the motif of power plays an important role in how health is perceived within certain
circles of faith communities. Essentially, everything in the church-based healing discourse is
focused on, and nurtured by, the concept of power. Power is understood here to belong to the
frame of relationships: it is an unending series of maneuvers that constitute one’s existence and
well-being. In other words, power equals health. The definition of power in the church-based
healing discourse is that power is derived from power, which means that living beings receive
their power to exist from another source: that is, God. God’s power, that can be experienced
through the presence of the Holy Spirit, is essential for human life and well-being. In healing
ministries, the notion of power has become so important that it functions as a parameter of
spiritual healing interventions: without the reliance on God’s power to intervene and heal,
church-based healing ministries would be meaningless. Another reason for the centralizing of the
notion of power in the church-based healing discourse, is that it refers to individual and
collective transformation. The power of the Spirit can lead to religious, social, economic,
political and ecclesiological forms of transformation in the sense that the call upon the power of
the Spirit inaugurates a shift within existing situations and relations of suppressing power. The
power of the Spirit brings liberation and transformation.
The relevance of the notion of power for the church-based healing discourse suggests that it
could be worthwhile to explore the impact of the notion of power on Reformed pneumatological
thinking about healing. The description of the church-based healing discourse shows that power
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