John Wilkinson was a senior fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, a theologian and biblical scholar who spent his life as a medical missionary in Africa and as a consultant physician in Scotland. His books and articles have been acclaimed by reviewers across the field; Christian Ethics in Health Care was a standard textbook.

The introduction compares the medical and theological understanding of healing, and the first part of the book examines the biblical concept of health as found in each Testament. The second part looks at disease and healing in the Old Testament, and seeks to identify the various diseases which are described, often without much to go on. In the third part, the author turns to the New Testament, with a full discussion of the healing miracles of Jesus. The fourth part is about the apostolic Church, and includes the fullest account ever written of Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ and James’ instructions for healing. The final part looks at healing in the history of the Church up to modern times.