HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kathryn Kuhlman (May 9, 1907 - February 20, 1976) was an American evangelist who is best known as a '
faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...
' who hosted healing services.


Early and personal life

Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was born near Concordia, Missouri to German-American parents Joseph Adolph Kuhlman and Emma Walkenhorst. Several years after a spiritual experience at age 14, she began itinerant preaching with her elder sister and brother-in-law in
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...
. Later, she was ordained by the Evangelical Church Alliance. Kuhlman's future husband, Burroughs Waltrip, was a Texas evangelist. Waltrip divorced his first wife, left his family, moved to
Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro G ...
and started a revival center called Radio Chapel, for which Kuhlman and her pianist friend, Helen Gulliford, helped him raise funds. After a romance between Waltrip and Kuhlman began, she told her friends that she could not "find the will of God in the matter", seemingly feeling guilt-ridden. Kuhlman's friends tried to encourage her to not marry Waltrip, however Kuhlman reasoned that Waltrip's wife had left him, not the other way around (the details of their separation are not clear). On October 18, 1938, she secretly married "Mister," as she called Waltrip, in Mason City, but the wedding supposedly brought her no peace. The couple had no children and eventually separated in 1944, divorcing in 1948. Regarding her marriage, in a 1952 interview with the ''Denver Post'', Kuhlman stated, "He charged - correctly - that I refused to live with him. And I haven't seen him in eight years." On many occasions, Kuhlman expressed remorse for her part in the pain caused by the breakup of Waltrip's previous marriage, citing Waltrip's children's heartbreak as particularly troubling to her. She claimed it was the single greatest regret of her life, second only to the betrayal of her loving relationship with Jesus. In 1955, in her late 40s, despite being told by doctors about a heart condition, Kuhlman kept a very busy schedule, often traveling across the United States and abroad, holding two to six-hour long meetings which could last late into the evenings. Kuhlman's devotion to her ministry was summed up in the 1976 biography ''Daughter of Destiny
'' written by Jamie Buckingham; "The television ministry itself required more than $30,000 a week. To stop, to even cut back, would mean she was beginning to fail. The same was true with the miracle services. As the pain in her chest grew almost unbearable, instead of holding fewer services, she increased the number."


Ministry

Kuhlman traveled extensively around the United States and abroad holding healing crusades between the 1940s and 1970s. She was one of the most well-known healing ministers - faith healers - in the world. Reverend Mother Amanda H. Williams of
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, a trailblazer for women in Ministry known for her healing ministry helped to birth the healing ministry in Kuhlman. Kuhlman had a weekly
TV program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
in the 1960s and 1970s called '''I Believe In Miracles that was aired nationally. She also had a 30-minute nationwide radio program, which featured sermons and, frequently, excerpts from her healing services (both music and message). Her foundation was established in 1954, and its
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...
branch in 1970. Late in her life she was supportive of the nascent
Jesus movement The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it subsided in the la ...
, and received endorsements by its key leaders, including David Wilkerson and Chuck Smith. By 1970 she moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, conducting healing services for thousands of people, and was often compared to Aimee Semple MacPherson. She became well known for her "gift of healing" despite, as she often noted, having no theological training. She was friendly with Christian television evangelist
Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christi ...
and made guest appearances at his
Christian Broadcasting Network The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing '' Superbook' ...
(CBN) and on the network's flagship program ''
The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...
''. In 1975, Kuhlman was sued by Paul Bartholomew, her personal administrator, who claimed that she kept $1 million in jewelry and $1 million in fine art hidden away and sued her for $430,500 for breach of contract. Two former associates accused her in the lawsuit of diverting funds and of illegally removing records, which she denied and said the records were not private. According to Kuhlman, the lawsuit was settled prior to trial.


Healing

An estimated two million people reported they were healed in her meetings over the years. Following a 1967 fellowship in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...
, Dr. William A. Nolen conducted a case study of 23 people who said they had been cured during one of her services. Also see: William Nolen, ''Healing: a doctor in search of a miracle''. New York: Random House Nolen's long term follow-ups concluded that there were no cures in those cases. One woman who was said to have been cured of spinal cancer threw away her brace and ran across the stage at Kuhlman's command; her spine collapsed the next day and she died four months later. Nolen's analysis of Kulhman came in for criticism from believers. Lawrence Althouse, a physician, said that Nolen had attended only one of Kuhlman's services and did not follow up with all of those who said they had been healed there. Dr. Richard Casdorph produced a book of evidence in support of miraculous healings by Kuhlman. Hendrik van der Breggen, a Christian philosophy professor, argued in favor of the claims. Author Craig Keener concluded, "No one claims that everyone was healed, but it is also difficult to dispute that significant recoveries occurred, apparently in conjunction with prayer. One may associate these with Kathryn Kuhlman's faith or that of the supplicants, or, as in some of Kuhlman's teaching, to no one's faith at all; but the evidence suggests that some people were healed, even in extraordinary ways." Dr. Richard Owellen, a member of the cancer‐research department of the
Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 m ...
who appeared frequently at Miss Kuhlman's services, testified to various healings that he said he had investigated.


Death

In July 1975 her doctor diagnosed her with a minor heart flare-up; in November she had a relapse. As a result, Kuhlman had open-heart surgery in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
from which she died on February 20, 1976. It was reported in her biography that at the time of her passing in the hospital, a bright light was witnessed hovering over her lifeless body. Kathryn Kuhlman was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...
. A plaque in her honor is in the main city park in Concordia, Missouri, a town in central Missouri on Interstate Highway 70. After she died, her
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
led to controversy. She left $267,500, the bulk of her estate, to three family members and twenty employees. Smaller bequests were given to 19 other employees. According to the '' Independent Press-Telegram'', her employees were disappointed that "she did not leave most of her estate to the foundation as she had done under a previous 1974 will." The Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation had continued, but due to lack of funding, in 1982 terminated its nationwide radio broadcasting. Ultimately, the Foundation shut its doors in April 2016.


Legacy

Many believers uphold Kuhlman as an important forerunner to the present-day
charismatic movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiri ...
. She influenced
faith healers Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...
Benny Hinn and Billy Burke. Hinn has adopted some of her techniques and wrote a book about Kuhlman, as he often attended her preachings. However, Billy Burke did meet her and was counseled by her, having claimed a miracle healing in her service as a young boy. In 1981,
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
and
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop ...
sampled one of Kuhlman's sermons for a track created during sessions for their collaborative album '' My Life in the Bush of Ghosts''. After failing to clear the license to Kuhlman's voice from her estate, the track was reworked to use audio from an unidentified
exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may b ...
, with this modified version being released as "
The Jezebel Spirit "The Jezebel Spirit" is the fifth song from the 1981 album '' My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'' by David Byrne and Brian Eno. It was released as a single the same year. Content The song includes a "found sound"—an exorcism performed by an anonym ...
". The Kuhlman version was later included on the 1992
bootleg recording A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and trade ...
''Ghosts'', titled "Into the Spirit Womb".


Bibliography

*Kathryn Kuhlman, ''I Believe in Miracles'', Prentice-Hall Publishers (1962) *Kathryn Kuhlman, ''God Can Do It Again'', (1969) *Kathryn Kuhlman, ''Nothing Is Impossible With God'', Bridge-Logos Publishers (1974) *Kathryn Kuhlman, ''Never Too Late'', Bridge-Logos Publishers (1975)


Biography

* *Wayne E. Warner, ''Kathryn Kuhlman, The Woman Behind the Miracles'', Servant Publications/New Wine Press (1993) *Artman, Amy Collier, ''The Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., (2019)


See also

* Benny Hinn


References


External links


Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation
– Official website *
Joan Gieson with Kathryn Kuhlman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhlman, Kathryn 1907 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Protestants People from Lafayette County, Missouri American Methodists Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) American faith healers American Charismatics Oral Roberts University people American people of German descent American evangelicals