this was "as" a result of Christians praying.

[sitifan]

Many years ago, some friends of mine were doing some witnessing in a fairground. As they paused in the centre to pray, they were suddenly interrupted by a woman dashing out of a nearby tent. She was clairvoyant, and she exclaimed, ‘Go away! I can’t do my work while you’re here praying to your God.’ Clairvoyancy used to be regarded eccentric, something just for the fairground, a source of mild amusement. But these days it has become big business. Astrology and clairvoyancy feature on our major television networks. Seminars and major rallies are held in some of the largest auditoria throughout Britain. Christians who are alert to the danger have discovered that they, through prayer, have a power over such enterprises and over the forces that are generated through the activities of clairvoyants. In one centre, the performance was cancelled because the clairvoyant had become ill. It is suggested that this was as a result of Christians praying. In another centre, all the customers left after half an hour because nothing extraordinary was happening. Christians in the town had been praying before and during the ‘performance’, binding the powers of Satan. (My bold.)
Source: pp 78-79. https://www.amazon.com/-/zh_TW/Brian-Mills/dp/0860653854
Is the sentence in bold grammatically correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. The phrase "as a result of" is very common. I assume your point is that "... this was a result of ..." would also be correct. That's true.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm going to say it's wrong, largely for the sake of argument. I might change my mind later.

Since as a result is adverbial and not a noun or adjective phrase, it can't really complement the verb was. The way to read the verb was is as equivalent in meaning to 'happened', and I think that's pushing it too far.

it is suggested that this happened as a result of Christians praying