Abstract
The Bible and the Anointing of the Sick is published within the Baker Academic series, ‘A Catholic Biblical Theology of the Sacraments’. The aim of the series is to cultivate attention to how sacramental practice is rooted in the scriptures and thereby to nourish the life of the church through Word and Sacrament together. The series is written from within the Roman Catholic tradition and so is intended primarily for that audience, but not exclusively: it is written with considerable attentiveness to a potentially much wider Christian audience. It is not a series with an apologetic aim, although it does seek to attest that it is through the scriptures that life is breathed through the sacraments for those who receive them.
As Barber points out, the anointing of the sick has been rather overlooked in the theology of the sacraments. He can cite only one monograph length study of its biblical foundation. Furthermore, the Second Vatican Council drew on scriptural passages never previously associated with this sacrament in order to explain it. Barber’s exploration follows that lead of opening up attention to a wider range of sources in search of understanding. He starts from James 5:14-16 and raises many pertinent questions: who are the ‘sick’ who should be prayed over, and who are the ‘elders’ who should anoint them ‘in the name of the Lord’? Why is oil important in the anointing? How does anointing with oil effect healing? What is the link between healing and forgiveness? What is the relation between physical and spiritual healing?
The book offers a wide-ranging exploration of different themes that intersect in Jas 5:14-16 and the sacrament of anointing, drawing not only on biblical sources (Old and New Testaments) but also on extracanonical texts (e.g. Life of Adam and Eve), fathers of the church, and later ecclesial teachings. Barber takes a theological starting point, considering the significance of the ‘Lord’ as giver of life, and allowing the various roles of ‘oil’ to flow from that – from oil of gladness to oil of mercy signifying redemption from sin and death, to oil used in sacral anointing of kings, priests, and prophets, whence also Jesus’ messianic anointing as king, priest, and prophet, and the ways in which believers are invited to participate in that.
The conclusion that Barber reaches is that the anointing of the sick builds on and completes the anointings of baptism and confirmation. It offers the sacramental means by which the sick person receives Christ as present to them through their suffering and by which they offer their suffering in conformity with his. As a sacrament of healing, it bears witness to the many dimensions of what healing through Christ entails. Whether or not physical healing is also received, the sacrament of anointing mediates Christ’s gifts to both the afflicted and the church by conforming their suffering to the paschal mystery.
This book has clearly been written in labour of much love, and bears fruits of scholarship that is beautifully accessible to an educated, interested lay readership. It would be interesting to pursue the discussion further in dialogue with disability theology, but that would need another book!