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Iii Miracles and Medicine

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Iii Miracles and Medicine III MIRACLES AND MEDICINE (a) Tension and conjlict between theology and medicine In the first place we should like to recall here what we said at the beginning of the preceding chapter about the drawbacks and dangers of venturing outside one's own field. But a chapter such as this may not be omitted from a study of Jesus' miracles. In the course of the centuries many a man of medicine has reflected on the nature of the diseases and the healings recounted in the Old and the New Testament, and the theologian may not ignore these medical voices, even though he will consider various explanations to be in conflict with the message of the Bible, or at least in conflict with his theolo­ gical views. Although it is not possible for doctors and theologians to follow each other in technical details, which naturally demand well-foun­ ded and often specialized knowledge, there is still a sufficiently large meeting ground left. Both the scientific and the practical common ter­ ritory of doctors and theologians is by no means the smallest area in the whole of the sciences. Furthermore, the common descent of mi­ nisters of religion and doctors from the priesthood-the combined office is still encountered today among primitive peoples-may ne­ ver be forgotten. At a very early date medicine was already trying to place itself on a rational basis. The publications of Egyptian papyri describing medicine in the Egypt of ca. 1900-1250 B.C. reveal how, side by side with a remarkably advanced medical knowledge and surgical skill (operations, dental fillings; mention is even made of an inhaler), incantations and magic spells played a great part in the combating of disease, Sometimes the offices of high priest, high court physician and high wizard were combined in one person! 1 In Greece, in about the fifth century before Christ, religion and medicine were separated; although the practice of medicine remained free, it was not long before a man wishing to set up as a recognized physician at for instance Athens had to declare where and how he had been trained. The oath which the pupils of the school of Hippocrates had to take 1 See SIGERIST, A History of Medicine, III, Ancient Egypt, p. 217 ff.; LINDE­ BOOM, Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde, p. 28 ff.; OEPKE, TWNT, III, p. 195; textual material is offered by ELAUT, Antieke Geneeskunde; TROELS LUND, Gesundheit u. Krankheit, p. 10. MIRACLES AND MEDICINE 81 is evidence of a high ethical conception of the profession of physician. However, religious ideas and magieal practiees constantly hampered a purely scientific development of medicine, and in the days in which Jesus lived we find throughout the Roman Empire belief in gods who could cure man of all kinds of ills. Aristides, who lived in the second century after Christ, gives the following list of healing gods: Serapis, Isis, Zeus, Athene, Heracles, the Asclepiads with Hygieia, Iaso, Panacea, Aegle, Epione, Telesphorus, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Amphiaraus, Trophonius, the Nymphs, Poseidon. 1 Now this belief and the magieal practiees originated in the view that diseases did not have natural causes but were brought about by supernatural powers. Hippocrates of Cos (ca. 460-377 B.C.), the father of Greek medieal science, tried to free disease from the supernatural and mysterious atmosphere surrounding it. In his work "The Sacred Disease" he says that epilepsy is not a form of demoniac possession, but a disease of the brain, which can be cured by physieians: "without purifications and magie." There is thus no "sacred" element in epilepsy. Opinions are divided on whether the school of Hippocrates completely excluded "the divine," the "miracle" from medicine. HERZOG, for instance, does not see in Hippocrates' writings any opposition to the divine as a "power" in healing, any attack on the "kirchliche Heiltätigkeit," but instead an attack on those who were hated both by science and by the Church, viz. the wizards and magicians; a view which, according to HERZOG, we encounter throughout the ages. 2 We shall not go further into this point; one thing that is certain is that the school of Hippocrates moved solely along rational lines. "The extent to whieh the Hippocratici had advanced in their rational views is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that they made a point of treating mental disturbances just like other diseases, principally by diet and gymnastics," says HEIBERG. 3 1 DE LEEuw, Aelius Aristides, p. 80. 2 HERZOG, Die Wunderheilungen von Epidauros, p. 149 ff.; cf. OEPKE, TWNT, I1I, p. 197 f. 3 HEIBERG, Naturwissenschaften u. Mathematik im klass. Altertum, p. 16. NESTLE, Vom Mythos zum Logos, gives a dear survey of the Hippocratic literature, p. 207 ff. Nestle gives the following important quotation from Hippo­ crates' work "The Sacred Disease" (IIe:pt !p'ii~ vouO'ou): "Mit der sog. heiligen Krankheit verhält es sich folgendermassen : sie scheint mir um nichts göttlicher oder heiliger zu sein als die andern Krankheiten, sondern sie hat, wie die andern Krankheiten auch, eine natürliche Ursache (epuO'tv KCXt 7tp6epcxO'Lv), aus der sie entsteht; nur die Menschen hielten sie für einen göttlichen Vorgang, da se ihr v. D. Loos, The Miracles of Jesus 6 .
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