The holistic approach to healing and wholeness in evangelical Christianity in Africa can provide insight to scholars interested in the significance of the body-soul relationship, a significant topic debated among philosophers and theologians for centuries and that remains relevant in global evangelical Christianity today. As Joel B. Green observes, modern science challenges the Christian notion of the body’s frailty and the soul’s immortality, raising a significant anthropological concern and leading to a soteriological question such as how Christians should understand salvation, salvation of soul or body. If salvation is limited to the soul, how does it extend to a person’s embodied life and body-soul needs? Christian theologians and philosophers who have offered different approaches to this concern recently include Stewart Goetz, who represents substance dualism; William Hasker, who advocates for emergent dualism; Nancy Murphy, who endorses non-reductive physicalism; and Kevin Corcoran, who defends the constitutional view of persons. Nathan Chiroma presents a perspective on the assimilative therapeutic faith of wellness and wholeness (2020:1-9). He describes how some Christians gather to seek healing and aid without regard to the location or religious affiliation of the healing site . This raises concerns about the need for a theology of healing, as well as questions about why some evangelical Christians seek wellness and healing. Reflecting on global evangelicalism, this paper raises a crucial question: what does global evangelicalism have to do with assimilative therapeutic faith for health and wholeness in the body-soul relationship debate?
This paper argues that many contemporary evangelical Christians in Africa advocate for a faith that assimilates therapeutic practices for healing and wholeness because they believe in the significance of the body-soul relationship in appropriating the benefits of salvation. Through analytical methods, the paper begins by describing current debates surrounding the body-soul relationship to show the uniqueness of assimilative therapeutic faith in pursuing health and wellness. Then, a biblical-theological analysis of therapeutic faith in the quest for health and wholeness will highlight its implications in global evangelicalism. This is followed by a proposed framework for assimilative therapeutic faith to affirm its importance in the contemporary debate on the body-soul relationship in global evangelicalism. Finally, some recommendations for further study will be proposed.
This paper contributes to the global evangelicalism discussion by showing some implications and benefits of a proper appropriation of assimilative therapeutic faith for health and wholeness in global evangelicalism.