Whose Body, Whose Spirit?: Early Christian Attitudes Toward the Development of Medicine
Moderator - Dr.Jeff Wickes, Assistant Professor of Early Christianity, Saint Louis University
Panelists -
Amanda Berg, PhD student, Saint Louis University
Patrick Connolly, PhD student, Saint Louis University
Chad Kim, PhD Candidate, Saint Louis University
Tracy Russell, PhD Candidate, Saint Louis University
The panel will explore the intersection of early Christian conceptions of the body and developing Christian attitudes toward medicine. As embodiment in the Christian tradition has typically been an underrepresented area of scholarship, and with the field beginning to appreciate the nuanced position that many Late Antique Christians had toward their bodies, such a timely exploration will be able to converse with new and exciting studies in the field. The panel will begin with an introduction to the tension present in early Christian conceptions of embodiment and medicinal practices. Then the panel will explore more directly specific attempts to deal with this tension, especially oriented towards answering the question of how Christianity developed from a movement that denied the importance of physical health to one that prioritized it as an aspect of its social gospel.
Panelist #1 (Patrick Connolly)
The Body in Crisis: An Introduction to Early Christian Tensions Concerning the Embodied Soul
“Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). So begins the apex of the sixth day of creation, in which God creates beings in the image of Godself. Yet, what this text meant for early Christians was a highly variable reality. Was this an affirmation of the human being’s body, as something which itself contains aspects of God’s own being? Or, as was also a frequent exegetical interpretation, is this an affirmation of the good of the individual soul, with the fall inherently forcing the body and the soul into an unending war? Herein lies the essential tension of the Christian tradition, particularly embodied in its earliest stages. This paper will introduce the crisis of the body in Late Antiquity by surveying early Christian texts like The Gospel of Thomas, The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans, Tertullian’s Ad Uxorem, and the rise of hagiographic literature to display the difficulty Christians had in discerning the appropriate relationship to the bodies that God had given them and how such a relationship ought to manifest itself practically. It shall do so specifically by studying accounts of early Christian accounts of healing in these texts, noting the delineation between physical and spiritual salvation can be ambiguous and unclear. Thus, both the concept of the importance of medicine and a paradoxical account of the rejection of its importance will be seen in such a study. Consequently, this paper will best function as an introduction to the epiphenomena that the following three papers’ accounts of more specific phenomena will explore in greater detail.
Panelist #2 (Chad Kim)
“Spiritus Vivificat: Medicine and the Spirit in Augsutine’s Letter CCV to Consentius"
The question of what precisely Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 15:50 when he said, “flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God” has troubled readers and interpreters throughout history. Paul describes a psychic body, σομά ψυχικόν and a spiritual body, σομά πνευματικόν, over the course of the passage. He says that the σομά πνευματικόν will inherit the Kingdom. But, what exactly is a pneumatic body? This question puzzled an early 5th century North African Christian who wrote to his bishop about this passage who responds, “When, therefore, we read in the apostle, flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50), the question is, of course, also answered in the way you mentioned. That is by the terms flesh and blood we understand the works of flesh and blood.” The bishop then proceeds to explain using medical knowledge current in his time, precisely how Christians should understand Paul’s pneumatic body. The Bishop was none other than St. Augustine of Hippo, who offers a thorough explanation of the resurrected body in De Genesi Ad Litteram VI and in De Civitate Dei XXI and XXII, but here in this letter 205, he brings contemporary medicine into conversation with theology. My goal in this paper will be to explain how St. Augustine understood Paul and constructed his theology using medical knowledge common to the period. My hope will be to offer this as a possible way forward as Christians think about how to bring together the science of medicine and the truth of Scripture.
Panelist #3 (Tracy Russell)
Idealized Women: Female Virginity in Ancient Greco-Roman Gynecology in Light of Christian Ascetic Ideals
This paper examines the topic of female virginity as it appears in medical texts by the two most prominent writers of gynecological treatises in antiquity, the Hippocratic authors and Soranus of Ephesus. Although medical knowledge of women’s anatomy and physiology progressed significantly during the intervening centuries between these two texts, fundamental attitudes towards female virginity remained remarkably constant. In examining these medical treatises in light of the contemporary religious significance attributed to ascetic lifestyles in late antiquity, I conclude that Soranus's attitude towards female virginity shares with Christian teaching of the second century an openness to the ideal of lifelong female virginity, while remaining skeptical about the practicality of complete ascetic renunciation of sexual activity as a widespread practice in late antiquity.
Panelist #4 (Amanda Berg)
Fourth-Century Christian Perceptions of Disease: A Call to Asceticism or a call to Ministry?
In many ways, diseases and human responses to them have shaped history. The spread of plagues as well as the misunderstood or mysterious transference of diseases like leprosy, not only reminded humans of their temporal frailty, but also often elicited a spiritual response. Responses varied depending on culture, religious affiliation, and social stigma. For the early Christian, two main responses manifested: enduring a disease was lauded as a pseudo-imitatio-Paulus act which led to the belief that the deprivation of the flesh and ascetical endurance of troubling health would result in great heavenly reward; alongside this belief, however, Christians also cared for, prayed over, and healed the sick. There is a spiritual tension within these two manifestations for if disease is truly a form of asceticism, then should endurance of diseases not be encouraged among the masses by the Christians to improve souls? But, then, how do early Christians encourage imitatio Christi when many of Christ’s miracles include healing someone of a disease or illness? My paper seeks to draw out these seemingly antithetical viewpoints within fourth century monastic and social contexts, while focusing mainly on Basil’s development of the Basileias and his monastic rule. My hope is to reconcile these two opposing understandings of disease in order to build a broader picture of early Christian teachings and understandings of disease.
Panelists -
Amanda Berg, PhD student, Saint Louis University
Patrick Connolly, PhD student, Saint Louis University
Chad Kim, PhD Candidate, Saint Louis University
Tracy Russell, PhD Candidate, Saint Louis University
The panel will explore the intersection of early Christian conceptions of the body and developing Christian attitudes toward medicine. As embodiment in the Christian tradition has typically been an underrepresented area of scholarship, and with the field beginning to appreciate the nuanced position that many Late Antique Christians had toward their bodies, such a timely exploration will be able to converse with new and exciting studies in the field. The panel will begin with an introduction to the tension present in early Christian conceptions of embodiment and medicinal practices. Then the panel will explore more directly specific attempts to deal with this tension, especially oriented towards answering the question of how Christianity developed from a movement that denied the importance of physical health to one that prioritized it as an aspect of its social gospel.
Panelist #1 (Patrick Connolly)
The Body in Crisis: An Introduction to Early Christian Tensions Concerning the Embodied Soul
“Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). So begins the apex of the sixth day of creation, in which God creates beings in the image of Godself. Yet, what this text meant for early Christians was a highly variable reality. Was this an affirmation of the human being’s body, as something which itself contains aspects of God’s own being? Or, as was also a frequent exegetical interpretation, is this an affirmation of the good of the individual soul, with the fall inherently forcing the body and the soul into an unending war? Herein lies the essential tension of the Christian tradition, particularly embodied in its earliest stages. This paper will introduce the crisis of the body in Late Antiquity by surveying early Christian texts like The Gospel of Thomas, The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans, Tertullian’s Ad Uxorem, and the rise of hagiographic literature to display the difficulty Christians had in discerning the appropriate relationship to the bodies that God had given them and how such a relationship ought to manifest itself practically. It shall do so specifically by studying accounts of early Christian accounts of healing in these texts, noting the delineation between physical and spiritual salvation can be ambiguous and unclear. Thus, both the concept of the importance of medicine and a paradoxical account of the rejection of its importance will be seen in such a study. Consequently, this paper will best function as an introduction to the epiphenomena that the following three papers’ accounts of more specific phenomena will explore in greater detail.
Panelist #2 (Chad Kim)
“Spiritus Vivificat: Medicine and the Spirit in Augsutine’s Letter CCV to Consentius"
The question of what precisely Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 15:50 when he said, “flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God” has troubled readers and interpreters throughout history. Paul describes a psychic body, σομά ψυχικόν and a spiritual body, σομά πνευματικόν, over the course of the passage. He says that the σομά πνευματικόν will inherit the Kingdom. But, what exactly is a pneumatic body? This question puzzled an early 5th century North African Christian who wrote to his bishop about this passage who responds, “When, therefore, we read in the apostle, flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50), the question is, of course, also answered in the way you mentioned. That is by the terms flesh and blood we understand the works of flesh and blood.” The bishop then proceeds to explain using medical knowledge current in his time, precisely how Christians should understand Paul’s pneumatic body. The Bishop was none other than St. Augustine of Hippo, who offers a thorough explanation of the resurrected body in De Genesi Ad Litteram VI and in De Civitate Dei XXI and XXII, but here in this letter 205, he brings contemporary medicine into conversation with theology. My goal in this paper will be to explain how St. Augustine understood Paul and constructed his theology using medical knowledge common to the period. My hope will be to offer this as a possible way forward as Christians think about how to bring together the science of medicine and the truth of Scripture.
Panelist #3 (Tracy Russell)
Idealized Women: Female Virginity in Ancient Greco-Roman Gynecology in Light of Christian Ascetic Ideals
This paper examines the topic of female virginity as it appears in medical texts by the two most prominent writers of gynecological treatises in antiquity, the Hippocratic authors and Soranus of Ephesus. Although medical knowledge of women’s anatomy and physiology progressed significantly during the intervening centuries between these two texts, fundamental attitudes towards female virginity remained remarkably constant. In examining these medical treatises in light of the contemporary religious significance attributed to ascetic lifestyles in late antiquity, I conclude that Soranus's attitude towards female virginity shares with Christian teaching of the second century an openness to the ideal of lifelong female virginity, while remaining skeptical about the practicality of complete ascetic renunciation of sexual activity as a widespread practice in late antiquity.
Panelist #4 (Amanda Berg)
Fourth-Century Christian Perceptions of Disease: A Call to Asceticism or a call to Ministry?
In many ways, diseases and human responses to them have shaped history. The spread of plagues as well as the misunderstood or mysterious transference of diseases like leprosy, not only reminded humans of their temporal frailty, but also often elicited a spiritual response. Responses varied depending on culture, religious affiliation, and social stigma. For the early Christian, two main responses manifested: enduring a disease was lauded as a pseudo-imitatio-Paulus act which led to the belief that the deprivation of the flesh and ascetical endurance of troubling health would result in great heavenly reward; alongside this belief, however, Christians also cared for, prayed over, and healed the sick. There is a spiritual tension within these two manifestations for if disease is truly a form of asceticism, then should endurance of diseases not be encouraged among the masses by the Christians to improve souls? But, then, how do early Christians encourage imitatio Christi when many of Christ’s miracles include healing someone of a disease or illness? My paper seeks to draw out these seemingly antithetical viewpoints within fourth century monastic and social contexts, while focusing mainly on Basil’s development of the Basileias and his monastic rule. My hope is to reconcile these two opposing understandings of disease in order to build a broader picture of early Christian teachings and understandings of disease.