laying on of hands
1
8.3
- noun
- Formal
:
imposición de manos
- I am vindicated by my older mentors who tell me that the diagnosis almost always comes from the careful work of listening and from the physical exam—the laying on of hands.
- prayers with the laying on of hands
Examples
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During the revival meeting, the pastor emphasized the significance of laying on of hands for invoking divine blessings.
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Many believers feel that the laying on of hands can facilitate spiritual healing during prayer.
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Do you believe in the laying on of hands as the proper method to heal people?
Blog text (20) -
Yes, the whole laying on of hands should only be done when the person being prayed for gives permission.
Blog text (1) -
Do you believe that Jesus could heal by the laying on of hands and that he passed this gift on to his disciples?
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The church might be the body of Christ and its members might be living stones used in the construction of a spiritual house, but in nineteenth-century America, metaphors were far less important than explicit action: public repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands followed by official church membership.
Academic text (2007) -
And soon thereafter, Edgecomb discovers that this huge, beast-like man is actually in possession of a miraculous gift: the power to cure and restore life by the laying on of hands.
Academic text (2003) -
The episcopal confirmation of baptism by anointing with chrism and by the laying on of hands is the primary sacramental means to signify and create the relationship between Christians and their local church.
Academic text (2002) -
In the ceremony, the priest performed the laying on of hands to bless the newly ordained ministers.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally describes the action of 'laying' (placing) 'on' someone's 'hands', so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to physically placing hands on a person. The ritual/ceremonial functions (blessing, ordaining, healing) are a contextual extension of that literal action and this compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically, making the meaning predictable.
Etymology
Laying on of hands comes from a long religious practice where a leader does the laying on of their hands on someone's head or shoulders to give a blessing or help them heal. That's why the phrase means 'to bless, ordain, or heal'.