'Spiritual facts of being' : the medical discourse of Christian science healing in Singapore.

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to address the contrasting attitudes and legitimizing strategies that Christian Science healers and patients adopt in their practice of the therapeutic system in Singapore. Through describing the meaning-making process of these practitioners, I shall show how different discourses are manifested and sustained by the different roles that they play in the healing process. Christian Science healers seek to differentiate Christian Science from other healing systems by drawing upon the holistic and mentalistic-spiritual appeal of complementary and alternative medicine while pitting it against the reductionism of biomedicine. The patients, even though they are aware of Christian Science principles, are more concerned with its efficacy. This shows that the pragmatic approach of patients towards medical decisions remain uninfluenced by the discursive tools employed by the healers. I argue that Singapore’s discursive climate plays an important role in sustaining the dominance of this very pragmatist philosophy.