Ailon Shiloh

Faith Healing: The Religious Experience as a Therapeutic Process

Review by Kim Young Ju, 2002

Shiloh, Ailon. Faith Healing: The Religious Experience as a Therapeutic Process. Springfield, IL: Thomas, 1981.

This book discusses the religious experiences of faith healing.

The author asserts that faith healing is a human phenomenon that should be neither crassly dismissed nor blindly accepted. He says that faith healing needs to be studied rationally and scientifically, with carefully controlled and recorded documentation and verification.

His belief is that the wonderful force of faith healing exists as a biological reality within the brain of each and every one of us.

The utilization of this force is not a mystery. It is a challenge. The challenge is for all of us to use the “human” part of our brain to its fullest capacity.

The most constructive forces within the human brain, according to Shiloh, are the neocortex (MacLean’s term), Superego (Freud’s term), and Adult. These forces can be marshaled to help people react positively to life situations and thereby create health and well-being.