"How are we to read and understand stories about Jesus healing the lame, deaf, blind, and those with a variety of other maladies? Pilch takes us beyond the historical and literary questions to examine the social questions of how the ancient Judeans and earliest followers of Jesus understood healing, what roles healers played, and the different emphases on healing among the gospels.

In his comparative analysis, the author draws on Mediterranean anthropology as well as the models employed by medical anthropologists to open the world of peasant societies and their healthcare systems."--BOOK JACKET.