2024

Dieser Beitrag führt die zentralen Fragen und Erkenntnisse eines kooperativen Forschungsprojekts mit dem Titel When Healing Fails zusammen und dient zugleich als Rahmung der in diesem Sonderheft vorgestellten Fallbeispiele. Das leitende Erkenntnisinteresse ergab sich aus der Frage, wie Christ:innen mit Heilungserwartungen umgehen, was sie darunter verstehen und insbesondere, wie mögliche Enttäuschungen verarbeitet werden. Ausgehend von der Theorie kognitiver Dissonanzen (Festinger) wurde daher gefragt, ob Heilungserwartungen Irritationen auslösen können und wie diese kommunikativ aufgefangen und verarbeitet werden. Von besonderer Bedeutung waren dabei vor allem kollektive Deutungen und weniger individuelle Copingstrategien. In dem Projekt wurden dazu drei unterschiedliche christliche Kirchen auf drei Kontinenten untersucht. Die Ergebnisse dokumentieren einerseits die empirische Breite des Heilungsbegriffs und der Möglichkeiten von „gescheiterter“ Heilung. Andererseits konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Thema Nicht-Heilung nicht allein Glaubenszweifel produziert, sondern sehr kreativ in die alltägliche Praxis eingehegt und so zu einem festen Teil von gelebter Religion wird.

Since its inception in 1858, the Lourdes Marian shrine in France has been distinguished by several defining characteristics, including religious practices, ritual performances, and narratives of healing. The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on religious culture at the Catholic Sanctuary of Lourdes in multiple ways. This article presents an ethnographic description of the impact of the pandemic on the shrine, based on fieldwork and the analysis of qualitative interviews conducted during the autumn of 2021 and throughout 2022. The article examines historical continuities and inconsistencies in the evaluations of religious practitioners’ ritual practices, with a particular focus on two aspects of Lourdes: first, ritual performances involving the renowned Lourdes water, which are thus framed as healing rituals; secondly, the in-/visibility of sick pilgrims at the sanctuary due to the pandemic. The article demonstrates that although these two aspects transform the sensational form of Lourdes to a considerable extent, as they become partially dysfunctional (at least temporarily), their evaluations by pilgrims and the shrine’s lay helpers are conducted within a stable framework.

This paper sheds light on the intersection of religion, medicine, and cultural practices in Papua New Guinea, focusing on a case study of an exorcism conducted by a Lutheran doctor from Madagascar. It underscores that the attribution of failure is contextually dependent and fluctuates based on spatial-temporal scales and observer perspectives. By considering the role of semiotic ideologies in shaping these interactions, I debate the complexities involved in navigating distinct cultural, religious, and medical norms in this therapeutic setting. The paper attends to the historical and socio-political contexts, including the impact of colonialism and missionary work on local religious and healing practices. It also examines the concept of possession and its implications for healing expectations. The paper wraps up by discussing aspirations for the indigenization of Lutheran Christianity. German Lutherans, missionaries, the Madagascan doctor, and New Guinean locals all strive to harmonize their respective worldviews. By comparing such different yet equal perspectives, one’s own can be reflected upon and better understood. The discourse of healing in this unique configuration serves as a microcosm of broader debates surrounding religion, healthcare, and cultural diversity in a globalized world.

Divine healing is an emotionally and theologically conflictive field where actors communicate positions and draw boundaries by engaging in certain practices and renouncing others. In this article, I analyse how a progressive evangelical megachurch, faced with the dominance of conservative evangelicalism, uses healing and the failure of healing for boundary maintenance and identity construction. Drawing on ethnographic field research, interviews, and the analysis of sermons, I argue that the church develops and communicates its position in the evangelical field by developing and presenting healing practices that directly address the supposed shortcomings of other evangelical churches. To achieve this, the church makes failed healing an integral part of religious practice and encourages its followers to speak openly about this failure while continuously managing their expectations.