Connecting and Correcting

Connecting and Correcting is a case study of Sami healers in Porsanger, Finnmark, Norway, and focuses on two Coastal Sami healers, their worldview and healing practices. Barbara Miller explores the cultural and historic context of Sami healing practices, most notably Sami folk beliefs, the Laestadian branch of Lutheranism, and the changes in the discourse on the noaidi , a Sami term that is often translated as shaman. As she point out, healers today may be connected historically to the noaidi of the past, but they cannot be identified with the noaidi . The healers are Christian and conceive of their healing gift as a special connection to God. This gift resembles important Laestadian concepts. In Laestadianism the ?congregation of the reborn' holds the Keys to Heaven, which are the binding and unbinding keys received from the Savior.