God, Church water and spirituality: Perspectives on health and healing in Soweto, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Faith, belief, and religion can powerfully shape how people live with and heal from illness. Engaging in religious practices, from gathering for services to reading the holy texts and engaging in private prayer, can serve as a critical way of coping or building resilience amidst everyday social, moral, and medical challenges. In this article, we investigate why, what, and how people living with chronic illness in an urban South African township prioritise healing practices of the Church over the Clinic. We conducted 88 in-depth qualitative interviews to understand how people think about health, chronic illness, and healing. Most people described complex socio-spiritual beliefs and practices that many prioritised or practiced apart from biomedical care. This included religious practices, such as prayer and drinking church water, as well as one’s spirituality, which was an essential way in which people found healing. Recognising how socio-spiritual practice fosters healing and wellness is critical for thinking about health and healing for Soweto residents.

KEYWORDS:

• Healing
• church water
• god
• spirituality
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to the participants who took part in this study. We also appreciate Andrew Kim, Jackson Mabasa for working hard in project supervision. ENB conceptualised the study, analysed data & drafted the manuscript; LC & XP collected the data, reviewed the manuscript; AC analysed data, reviewed the manuscript, EM conceptualised the study, acquired funding, oversaw data collection & analysis, reviewed the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

Data will be made available upon written request to the corresponding author detailing the intended use of data.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by a grant (R21TW010789) to Emily Mendenhall from the Fogarty International Center at the US National Institutes of Health. The funding body has no influence in the study, including its publication.