Prayer, Faith, and Healing

Competently combining traditional Christian philosophy and prayer styles with common sense self-help, this work shows how to use prayer to cure, alleviate or prevent the blows of daily life. The authors add little new information or methods to the canon of psychotherapy, but gently remind readers that they can easily take small steps toward caring about themselves and others. In several very brief chapters, this book could work well as a resource for daily affirmations for people who are facing medical or personal crises. Medical ethicists and researchers have been looking into the impact of prayer on recovery from illness or injuries. Some of those studies have indicated that prayer can have a positive effect on a patient's recovery. Authors Caine and Kaufman use the results to inspire readers to pray, rather than educate them about how prayer works. They give clear instructions on the mechanics of prayer, and illustrate their points with passages from the Bible and other Christian writings. The final section of the book, ""Prayer Prescriptions,"" gives a heavily Christian perspective on dealing with subjects ranging from abuse to financial difficulties to weight loss. Prayer, Faith and Healing focuses on empowerment of Christians in crisis, and succeeds in reaching that modest goal. (June)