Healing, initiation and community in Luke-Acts: A comparative analysis.

Abstract

The third evangelist portrays healing as an event like initiation. It is a corporate act performed on an individual, and healing is associated with worship. In my dissertation I argue that in Luke-Acts, the physical change of healing is linked with an initiatory socio-religious change. The evangelist views healing as a process that transfers a person from the demonic realm to the community of God's people. There the person takes on a new status and a new role, as they would after an initiation. I find that the above view of healing was not limited to the evangelist. The concepts in Luke-Acts likely were shared and enacted by the text's audience, and the text reflects that group's worship and healing practices. The first chapter of the dissertation examines the Acts 9 account of Paul's conversion, which I find yields information not only about the evangelist's views on the specific case of Paul and the events of his coming to be a follower of Christ, but also an overall theme in Luke-Acts. In chapter eight I analyze material that Luke receives and adapts for his gospel from Mark and the Q source. Chapter nine analyzes unique Lukan material in the third Gospel and Acts, and in chapter ten I discuss the authorship and provenance of the text. Comparative material from healing cults sheds light on the Lukan material. In chapter five there is information on healing and initiation from a variety of groups and societies, including the indigenous people of Siberia and Central Asia, North America, Africa and South America. In chapter six I review an assortment of data from the Greco-Roman world, and in chapter seven I examine the case of the second-century orator Aelius Aristides. A model of affliction-healing is used to compare these various groups. This model describes a particular view of healing, where healing is seen as part of a process that brings a person into new relationship with the supernatural and new roles and status within a group. I argue that this view is also seen in Luke-Acts.