Healing Narratives and the Theology of the Body in Nigerian Pentecostal Communities in Oyo State

This study examines healing narratives as theological texts within Nigerian Pentecostal communities in Oyo State, South West Nigeria, and explores how these narratives construct a popular theology of the body grounded in expectations of divine physical restoration. Healing testimonies are among the most prevalent and formative theological speech acts in Nigerian Pentecostalism, yet they have received limited analytical attention as sites of embodied theology. Using a descriptive qualitative design, data are gathered from thirty testimonial recordings, twenty interviews with testifiers, and eight focused discussions with Pentecostal pastors across churches in Ibadan, Saki, and Ogbomoso. Thematic analysis identifies recurring narrative structures, theological assertions about the relationship between faith and physical health, and the communal functions of public healing testimonies. Findings indicate that healing narratives in Oyo State's Pentecostal communities perform multiple functions simultaneously: they evangelise, they strengthen faith, they assign spiritual meaning to physical suffering, and they construct a corporate identity centred on divine power. However, the study also identifies harmful patterns including the theological pathologisation of disability and the social shaming of those whose healings are not forthcoming. The research recommends that Pentecostal theological training address the ethics of healing rhetoric and develop a more nuanced theology of the body that holds together hope and lament. Keywords: healing narratives, body theology, Pentecostalism, Oyo State, testimonies