syn- drome") probably originated during the early Christian era, when ill- ness was equated with God's punishment visited upon sinners and health was a blessing bestowed a heavenly Father. Prayer, the laying-on of hands, and treatment with holy oils supplanted medica- tion and treatment, and 2000 years of empirical medicine by the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks were largely discarded.
Healing by faith exerted a magnetic power to draw new converts to Christianity, especially during the...