CONCEPT OF PRACTICES OF JEWISH AND EARLY CHRISTIAN MEDICINE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26565/2226-0994-2020-63-14Keywords:
Jewish medicine, early Christian medicine, Early Church Fathers, Pentateuch of MosesAbstract
The article examines the theological and philosophical origins of Jewish and early Christian medicine. We have shown that the basis of the medical practice of the ancient Jews and early Christians were the books of the Old Testament. The principles of nutrition, sanitation and hygiene have been considered in detail in the context of the topic. We also have analyzed the rules of care for sick people and the means used by the Jewish people in the treatment of infectious diseases. It has been shown that in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, Jews isolated an infected person from close contact with other people, thus avoiding the spread of various diseases and epidemics. Some Jewish works of the post-biblical period contain a description of the development of philosophy and ethics in medicine; the main ones are the Midrash, the Mishnah and the Talmud. In the article we also have analyzed conceptual medical foundations set forth in the Pentateuch of the Moses and the Talmud. It has been shown that the main attention of Jewish treatment practitioners was focused on disease prevention, as they attached great importance to the principles of ritual purity, which in turn was directly related to public hygiene. We also have studied a number of works of the early church fathers, who initiated the practice of caring for the physically ill. As a result, it was found that in the writings of the church fathers there are many mentions of surgery and treatment of mental illness.
References
Barnes, T. (1971). Tertullian: A Historical and Literary Study. London: Oxford University Press.
Buck, A. H. (1917). The Growth of Medicine from the Earliest Times to About 1800. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ferngren, G. (2009). Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Ferngren, G., & Larson, E. (2000). The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing.
Gordon, R. (2014). The Claims of Religion Upon Medical Men: Protestant Christianity and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America. (Publication No. 2268) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arkansas]. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2268.
Jeremias, J. (1969). Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Kindii, O. (Trans.). (2002). Didache: The Science of the Twelve Apostles. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University. (In Ukrainian).
Love, J. W. (2008). The Concept of Medicine in the Early Church. The Linacre Quarterly, 75(3), 225–238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/002436308803889503.
Merideth, A. E. (1999). Illness and Healing in the Early Christian East. Princeton: Princeton University.
Origen. (2020a). Contra Celsum 3.12. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04163.htm.
Origen. (2020b). Contra Celsum 8.60. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04168.htm.
Palmer, R., Colton, J., & Kramer, L. (2007). History of the Modern World to 1815. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Selin, H. (2003). Medicine Across Cultures History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48094-8.
Slobodkin, V. I., & Levytska, V. M. (2012). Food Poisoning by Phycotoxins: Etiology, Clinic, Prevention (Literature Review). Problems of Nutrition, 1–2, 36–49. (In Ukrainian).
St. Basil of Caesarea. (2020). Letter 189: To Eustathius the Physician. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202189.htm.
St. Irenaeus. (2020). Against Heresies (Book IV, Preface). New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103400.htm.
Tertullian. (2020a). De anima (On the Soul) 10. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0310.htm.
Tertullian. (2020b). De anima (On the Soul) 25. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0310.htm.
Tertullian. (2020c). De corona 8. New Advent. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0304.htm.
The Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas. (2020). Pravoslavnaya Biblioteka – Orthodox Library. Retrieved from http://pravbiblioteka.ru/reader/?bid=67691. (In Russian).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication of this work under the terms of a license Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
3.gif){kind=logo}
