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faith healing
noun
: a method of treating diseases by prayer and exercise of faith in God
faith healer
noun
Examples of faith healing in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But over the past sixty-plus years, practices once associated with older Pentecostal churches—glossolalia, faith healing, and the casting out of demons—began seeping through denominational borders and flourished across the country, a trend that has grown only more pronounced.
—Sam Kestenbaum, Harper's Magazine, 21 June 2024
People were converting to more expressive forms of evangelical Christianity — sometimes called charismatic or Pentecostal — which often entailed speaking in tongues and faith healing and emphasized a daily struggle between good and evil.
—Bishop Sand, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024
The film is also a clandestine advertisement for faith healing.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 31 Oct. 2023
Over the past half-century, as charismatic worship became more common in the United States, practices like speaking in tongues and faith healing have met with greater acceptance, and the number of nondenominational Protestants in the United States has grown.
—Marcela Valdes, New York Times, 28 June 2023
Party regulars were uncomfortable with his religious claims of faith healing and his political platform, which called for the abolition of Social Security as a government program.
—Kathryn Harris, Bloomberg.com, 8 June 2023
Since the 1970s, Charismatic Catholicism has been a way to keep many Catholics attracted to Pentecostalism inside the ranks, with faith healing and speaking in tongues, combined with distinctively Catholic features including devotion to the Virgin Mary.
—Samantha Pearson, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
Decades worth of evidence has shown that faith healing does not work, and in many cases the children in the Followers of Christ church had easily treatable illnesses and needn't have died.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 26 May 2011
The Followers of Christ, a fringe Christian group, advocates faith healing and not standard medicine, and as a result several children in that group have died in recent years.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 24 Feb. 2011
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Word History
First Known Use
1880, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near faith healing
Cite this Entry
“Faith healing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith%20healing. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Medical Definition
faith healing
noun
: a method of treating diseases by prayer and exercise of faith in God
faith healer
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on faith healing
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about faith healing
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