1930 Heather Mcintyre Thesis Subm
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“Man’s Redemption of Man”: Medical Authority and Faith Healers in North America, 1850 - 1930 Heather McIntyre Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in History Department of History Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Heather McIntyre, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 ii ABSTRACT “Man’s Redemption of Man”: Medical Authority and Faith Healers in North America, 1850 – 1930 Heather McIntyre Supervisor: University of Ottawa, 2020 Heather Murray This thesis discusses the various rhetorical, logical, and legal methods the medical profession used to regulate faith healing in North America. In so doing, it illuminates larger questions about the place of religion and authority over the body in modernity. It uses a source base of medical journals, legal documents, and church records to illustrate how doctors positioned themselves as the rational and godly choice for sick people. While faith healing was originally one of many “cures” and kinds of medicine available to North Americans during the 19th century, the medical field rapidly professionalized and supported laws requiring anyone claiming to practice medicine to adhere to one form of scientifically- based medicine. To support this change, physicians used the category of “quackery,” which implies backwardness and superstition, to illustrate the hazards of faith healing and other alternative medicines. Later, the rise of psychology in the 1890s reshaped physicians’ view of faith healing, and they came to explain its claims of success by arguing that “suggestion,” or messages to a person’s unconscious beliefs, can cure particular (gendered) kinds of mental illnesses. Doctors and clergy became curious about the safe use of suggestion, and embarked on experiments like the Emmanuel Movement. In showing this trajectory, this thesis demonstrates the co-operation between the clergy and the medical profession to delineate what they believed was a “rational” form of Protestantism, in opposition to the perceived excesses of faith healers. The possibility of a rational Protestantism led clergy and physicians to co- operate in several investigations into faith healers’ activities. Both professions lent their voices in support of the psychologized view of faith healing. Finally, this thesis examines legal documents and court cases involving faith healing, demonstrating the concrete application of medical authority in jurisdictions across North America. Through this examination, this thesis will suggest that medical culture and mainstream Protestantism deeply influenced each other in this period, complicating a conventional picture of them as completely separate modes of knowledge. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Heather Murray, for making this process smooth and joyful as possible. She is a patient guide through the confusing procedural necessities of a program as well as an amazing scholar whose edits, book lists, and suggestions made this thesis what it is. I would also like to thank Professors Serge Durflinger and Béatrice Craig for agreeing to be readers and for their insight, despite the upheaval of COVID-19 making it all more difficult. Thank you especially to Professor Craig for first suggesting that I should try to do an MA. She made me realize the possibilities of doing history and mentored me throughout my undergraduate years – I would never have thought of any of this without her. I would also like to thank my parents, Glen and Debbie McIntyre, for all their support and love throughout my education. It would never have been possible without them putting me on the path and unconditionally supporting my goals. Additionally, thank you to all my friends, but especially Victoria Gauthier and Mike Scott, for putting up with my rambling about this dissertation’s obscure subject matter and for being extremely supportive. Thank you to Dr. James Opp at Carleton University for fielding questions about his work, which was very helpful. I’d also like to thank Dr. Kevin Kee for putting me in touch with Dr. Opp. Thank you to Dr. Emma Anderson from UOttawa’s religious studies department for talking over this thesis with me and lending me a book. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 The Divine Healing Movement, Christian Science, and Other “Faith Healers” .................................... 3 Historiography .................................................................................................................................... 12 Sources and Methodology .................................................................................................................. 20 Chapter 1: Of Cures and Quacks, 1850 - 1910 ............................................................................................ 26 Developments in Medicine, 1850 - 1900 ............................................................................................ 27 Medical Sects of the 19th Century and Spirituality ............................................................................. 29 The “Faith Cure”.................................................................................................................................. 34 “Quackery” and Religion ..................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 2: Of Suggestion and Psychology, 1880 - 1920 ............................................................................. 52 Nervousness and Suggestion .............................................................................................................. 53 Using the Power of the Mind .............................................................................................................. 65 The Emmanuel Movement ................................................................................................................. 68 Chapter 3: Of Doctors and Divines .............................................................................................................. 75 Medicine, Psychology, and Secularization .......................................................................................... 76 C.S. Price and the Limits of Respectability .......................................................................................... 88 Making Medicine Sacred ..................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 4: Of Legislatures and Legalities .................................................................................................. 104 Medical Licensure and the Medical Marketplace ............................................................................. 105 Criminal Law in Canada ..................................................................................................................... 109 The People V. Pierson ....................................................................................................................... 121 1930 Criminal Code of Canada Debates ........................................................................................... 125 Conclusion: Faith, Medicine, Modernity ................................................................................................... 133 APPENDIX A: Medical Journals’ Origins and Dates of First Publication .................................................... 144 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................................... 145 1 Introduction From 1850 to 1930, the Anglo-American world was in a period of flux concerning medical advances, the role of physicians, and the role of religion. In the 1850s, a large array of medical “sects” practiced various forms of medicine. By 1930, to practice medicine required attending an accredited medical school to gain knowledge about new experimentally-discovered forms of surgery and drug therapy. Meanwhile, church attendance in predominantly Christian nations remained popular, but the challenges of new scientific discoveries and urbanization made clergy in the largest Christian denominations anxious.1 During this period of profound change, various religious groups asserted authority over the physical body and developed forms of prayer that they claimed were superior to physical treatments. Their claim posed a challenge to the authority of medical doctors, who attributed physical causes and cures to ills. Faith healers articulated a belief that disease is a result of failing to follow God’s laws for the body and can be overcome by reliance on God, hoping to eliminate the need for doctors’ craft. These ways of knowing came into contest when the rapidly-professionalizing medical establishment attempted to regulate the use of faith healing. This happened on several occasions throughout the late 19th and early