STMA 515 - Ritual Prayer and Healing

3 credit hours

This course explores the specifically ritual character of prayer for and with the sick, their families, and congregations that support and sustain them. Elements include a theology of prayer in which healing and wholeness are the lens through which the community encounters the grace of God, enfleshed in the presence of Christ to those who suffer, and the Spirit’s action in leading a sick person and their loved ones through a time of serious illness and diminishment. The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and related denominational rites of healing, along with their appropriate place within communities, will be discussed and practiced as moments of encounter with the risen Lord