Okay well let me be clear. Most scholars - including atheists like Ehrman - agree that Jesus delivered teachings and went around performing faith healings and exorcisms. Just like a chiropractor goes around performing chiropracty today. Was this activity curative? In some regards it should have been, because we know about the placebo effect. And let's be really clear about this - the placebo effect can improve a patient's condition or even cure them of an illness. So by merely practising pseudo-medicine, some of his patients would have seen actual improvement. But others would have perceived benefit, even if no actual benefit had taken place.
Now let me be even clearer about what I'm saying here. Even in the modern world there are clear examples of people who believe in pseudo-medicine, let alone the ancient world where the critical evaluation skills of the public were much lower. For Christ's sake, one of the lecturers in Public Health said that she sees a chiropractor! This is a respected academic who has contributed to peer review publications, and even they are willing to believe there's some therapeutic benefit to chiropracty for their own personal health. Everyone thinks they are an expert on their own health, and often attribute their well-being to causal relationships which are non-existent.
Now in terms of history, there have been faith healers since the dawn of time, and they still exist today. So I don't know where you get the idea that such events don't take place in the world.
Now let me be even clearer about what I'm saying here. Even in the modern world there are clear examples of people who believe in pseudo-medicine, let alone the ancient world where the critical evaluation skills of the public were much lower. For Christ's sake, one of the lecturers in Public Health said that she sees a chiropractor! This is a respected academic who has contributed to peer review publications, and even they are willing to believe there's some therapeutic benefit to chiropracty for their own personal health. Everyone thinks they are an expert on their own health, and often attribute their well-being to causal relationships which are non-existent.
Now in terms of history, there have been faith healers since the dawn of time, and they still exist today. So I don't know where you get the idea that such events don't take place in the world.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
