HEALING

VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: MAGIC, HEALING & RELIGION
Presented by Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University
Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Workshop overview: This workshop proposes an interdisciplinary and inter-religious approach to healing in religious traditions. By comparing religions and fostering dialogue between fields, we hope to understand the relationships between religion, science, magic, and healing.

Dr. Hanna Tervanotko & Katharine Fitzgerald will present “Food That Revives: Healing Rituals in Ancient Jewish Texts”

“How the ancient Israelites dealt with epidemics — the Bible tells of prophecy and rituals”

Online article in: The Conversation (2021)

Excerpt: Catastrophes have always touched people’s lives. With these words, the prophet Jeremiah addressed a disaster of his time, centuries before the common era. Scientists are working to explain the causes and origins of the coronavirus with evidence, yet conspiracy theories still abound. Also, some religious leaders have suggested that the virus is God’s message for people. Whether the conspiracy theory is attributed to political manoeuvring or divine intervention, these theories propose that science does not explain disasters sufficiently for many people. Throughout history people have believed that disasters carry otherworldly messages. Often these messages propose that people have some responsibility for their present suffering. Such a belief may encourage one to understand the causes of catastrophes so that they can be avoided in the future. Understanding these messages required interpretation and they asked for specific ritual treatment. As a researcher of biblical studies, I study the techniques people used to consult God about the future. Such methods allowed people to prepare themselves for possible calamities held for them in the future.

“Pandemic cooking and Jewish food rituals offer comfort in times of sickness”

Online article in: The Conversation (2021)
Co-authored with Katharine Fitzgerald

Excerpt: From our morning routines to our cultural and religious traditions, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensely highlighted our need for rituals. Rituals, understood as “a strategic way of acting in social situations,” are performative activities that follow a prescribed sequence of actions. Most scholarship understands rituals to be an inversion of regular behaviour that set an action apart from mundane activities. Not all rituals are religious, but religious studies scholar Catherine M. Bell has explained how almost any ceremony, traditional clothing and various traditions can be considered ritual-like activities. Sometimes such activities reflect a memory of an earlier tradition, such as Thanksgiving dinner. Other times, material items, such as a flag or scriptures, evoke a ritualistic context. Rituals provide connections with the past, belonging to a community and a sense of continuity. When everything else is changing, engaging with activities that “we have always done” can provide comfort. Rituals have become common in news media as both a casualty and something that has benefited from COVID-19. Many people miss access to their usual rituals due to the pandemic’s disruption of normal routines and traditions. There is also evidence that some have created new rituals, specifically in the context of their home. One interesting trend that has surfaced during this pandemic is pandemic baking. People have turned to cooking and baking as a means of coping during these trying times.