For more than two decades, Christian Science practitioner-healers Bruce and John Klingbeil began rigorous testing of prayer under scientific conditions. Their purpose was to promote research and education in the fields of prayer, consciousness, and spiritual healing.
They thought optimistically that their research would be met with openness from both the religious and scientific communities. After a few years of pursuing their work, it became clear this optimism had been misplaced, and in 1983 their church leaders punished them by removing Bruce as a practitioner.
Undeterred, the two moved to Salem, Oregon, where they continued their Spindrift research for another ten years. The toll of being expelled from their church, the continual harassment from the spiritual and scientific communities, the loss of income, and the potential of legal persecutions tied to Spindrift led to dramatic choices by the researchers before their work was recognized as groundbreaking research.
We present the Klingbeils' work for your consideration in order to allow you to judge the work for yourself.
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This book, "A Journey Into Prayer," documents the inspiring and cautionary true story of Bruce and John Klingbeil, a father and son team of devout Christian Scientists who dared to test their faith in the power of prayer, and of Spindrift, the research organization that helped to support their efforts. The story describes the Klingbeils’ courage and personal commitment to learn the truth about the efficacy of prayer, their self-taught but ingenious experiments, the staggering hostility they attracted from both the religious and the scientific communities, and ultimately, the unbearable poignancy in their untimely and mysterious deaths.
-- Dean Radin, IONS’ Senior Scientist |