Original Research

Models and perspectives concerning the identity of Jesus as healer

Zorodzai Dube
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 74, No 1 | a4925 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v74i1.4925 | © 2018 Zorodzai Dube | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 02 February 2018 | Published: 26 June 2018

About the author(s)

Zorodzai Dube, New Testament Department, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This study reviews various perspectives into the identity of Jesus as healer. There are two main perspectives – those that approach the identity of Jesus as healer from a theological perspective focusing on his personhood as messiah and those that use social scientific perspectives from sociology, psychology and anthropology. This study does not aim to evaluate or direct the reader towards a conclusion of Jesus’ identity, but only to review various perspectives. Based on analogies from Zimbabwe and comparative insights from the Mediterranean context from which the memory of Jesus survived, it is plausible that the identity of Jesus as healer should be found from the larger Greco-Roman context. Furthermore, given the various healers that existed during Jesus time both within the Jewish and Greco-Roman villages, the explanation of Jesus as healer is plausible from the various social scientific perspectives discussed.

Keywords

Healer; Shaman; Magician; Magician and Jesus

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Crossref Citations

1. Reception of Jesus as healer in Mark’s community
Zorodzai Dube
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 74  issue: 1  year: 2018  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v74i1.4952