The co-authors of this study manual are the Director of the Acorn Christian Foundation and two hospital chaplains. Their intention is 'to help Christians who want to be involved in God's gracious healing processes in the world today'. Discussion includes the theology of healing; the skills needed and attitudes involved when engaging with 20 TRIPLE HELIX.sick people; becoming a renewed and healing church; coping with failure, death, and spiritual warfare. There is also a checklist, indicating to intending participants whether they are better suited for health care or church work, if not both. Taffy's cartoons break up the (easily read) text.

The authors hope to encourage better listening between Christians of two major persuasions. Some believe that all sickness can be healed if both prayers and prayed for have enough faith, regardless of God's gifts of modern medicine and skill. Others, including some doctors, expect healing only through medical means or spontaneous remissions. Recovery after prayer is attributed to underlying psychosomatic disorder, as though this diminishes its impact.

As James 4:14-16 indicates, the early church used both physical and spiritual means to restore health. There is still room for this combination. 'Going to the doctor and receiving the laying on of hands are not mutually exclusive'. (p24) Those persisting in exclusivity can behave as though God must abide by their rules. Yet medicine without prayer and prayer without medicine fail equally to acknowledge that healing is in his hands. Although we may be instrumental in furthering his purposes, he is responsible for the final outcome. The last section, Hard Questions, considers the complexity of some of his ways, as when healing never comes.

All of us need to exercise a sensitivity not always reported in health professionals. The section, Visiting the sick, offers hints for any who hope to contribute to their wellbeing.

The frequent confusion of singular and plural (as in 'The client/person and their...' ) should be corrected in the next edition, but should not deflect from the usefulness of this one. In particular, we are reminded that a renewed church and its health workers, besides exchanging different perspectives and experiences, need prayerfully to exercise together their unique and God-given gifts of healing.

Reviewed by:
Janet Goodall
Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, Staffordshire