Description
Book SynopsisThe question typically asked about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is whether it works. However, an issue of equal or greater significance is why it is supposed to work. The Healing Gods: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Christian America explains how and why CAM entered the American biomedical mainstream and won cultural acceptance, even among evangelical and other theologically conservative Christians, despite its ties to non-Christian religions and the lack of scientific evidence of its efficacy and safety.Before the 1960s, most of the practices Candy Gunther Brown considers-yoga, chiropractic, acupuncture, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, meditation, martial arts, homeopathy, anticancer diets-were dismissed as medically and religiously questionable. These once-suspect health practices gained approval as they were re-categorized as non-religious (though generically spiritual) health-care, fitness, or scientific techniques. Although CAM claims are similar to religious
Trade ReviewDr. Brown gives religious people of all faiths a very useful and learned approach to complementary and alternative medicine and how to integrate it with their spirituality and healing practices * Herbert Benson, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; Introduction: Why is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Supposed to Work? ; 1. Is CAM Religious? ; 2. Yoga: I Bow to the God within You ; 3. Is CAM Christian? ; 4. I Love My Chiropractor! ; 5. Does CAM Work, and is it Safe? ; 6. Acupuncture: Reclaiming Ancient Wisdom ; 7. How did CAM become Mainstream? ; 8. Energy Medicine: How Her Karma Ran over His Dogma ; Conclusion: Why does it Matter if CAM is Religious (and not Christian)-even if it Works? ; Bibliography ; Index
