Download or read book Healing in the Early Church written by Andrew Daunton-Fear and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph presents the most comprehensive investigation yet made into the healing activity of the Early Church. In contrast to early skeptics such as B. B. Warfield, the author is convinced that there was a vigorous healing ministry in the centuries that followed the apostles, though it fluctuated somewhat and changed its mode. Exorcism is prominently attested throughout the period. The pre-Nicene Fathers recognized its great apologetic value as a dramatic demonstration of the superiority of Jesus Christ over pagan gods. Interest in healing miracles per se appears to have been particularly characteristic of the less educated members of the Church and those who were chaste in their devotion to the cause of Christ. Among these groups, gifts of healing were found, becoming rare it seems by the mid-third century but well attested again later in monastic circles.