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Marc Jolicoeur's avatar

Really interesting conclusions near the end, Matthew!

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Matthew McGuire's avatar

This is a working hypothesis that I continue to explore. We'll see if it pans out!

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Christian Hope | Here to Help's avatar

I read this on Christian Parapsychology post. It is very interesting. Thank You for your contributions to these topics.

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Matthew McGuire's avatar

I'm glad you enjoyed the essay!

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Christian Hope | Here to Help's avatar

Yes all of your work on these topics are engaging and articulated well. I think I could read about parapsychology all day. I find there isn’t enough information on these topics. So very refreshing.

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Matthew McGuire's avatar

Thank you for the feedback.

You might be interested to know that Jimmy Akin will be teaching Introduction to Parapsychology online at the Rhine Education Center starting next week. It's a very affordable 8-week class and I benefited from it quite a bit.

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Christian Hope | Here to Help's avatar

Absolutely! Thank You so much for the info. I’m always looking for ways to learn more. I either have to sort through a lot of “fluff” on the topic, or I won’t find much on it, so I’m really liking discovering these teachers and writers that are educated on it.

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JD Walters's avatar

Great piece! I wonder if we might subsume Jesus' healing ability under this model. As an ideal human he would be able to tap into latent human abilities to a much greater degree than every other fallen human healer.

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Matthew McGuire's avatar

Hi JD. You are not the first to speculate on this question. Dale Allison's newest book on the historical Jesus places his miracles within the broader context of paranormal healings. He identifies the view that Jesus healed through his *human* nature (rather than through his *divine* nature) in the writings of the Russian Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov as well as the Lutheran Rudolph Otto. Closer to our own day, the Roman Catholic John Heaney (in "The Sacred and the Psychic") offered a similar view. Jesus, as the human being par excellence, showed us what can happen when the fullness of human potentialities are brought to light. I haven't quite decided if this idea accounts for all of Jesus' miracles, but as for the healing feats, it does seem to fit the bill.

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