Overview
Drawing on New Testament studies and recent scholarship on the expansion of the Christian church, Gary B. Ferngren presents a comprehensive historical account of medicine and medical philanthropy in the first five centuries of the Christian era. Ferngren first describes how early Christians understood disease. He examines the relationship of early Christian medicine to the natural and supernatural modes of healing found in the Bible. Despite biblical accounts of demonic possession and miraculous healing, Ferngren argues that early Christians generally accepted naturalistic assumptions about disease and cared for the sick with medical knowledge gleaned from the Greeks and Romans. Ferngren also explores the origins of medical philanthropy in the early Christian church. Rather than viewing illness as punishment for sins, early Christians believed that the sick deserved both medical assistance and compassion. Even as they were being persecuted, Christians cared for the sick within and outside of their community. Their long experience in medical charity led to the creation of the first hospitals, a singular Christian contribution to health care.
Full Product Details
Author: Gary B. Ferngren (Professor of History, Oregon State University and Professor of the History of Medicine, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University)
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.499kg
ISBN: 9780801891427
ISBN 10: 0801891426
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 27 July 2009
Recommended Age: From 17
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A very fine book. Well-written, well-researched, and remarkably original. It will have lasting impact. - Rodney Stark, author of The Rise of Christianity
Medical historians and historians interested in the classical age will welcome this well written book to their libraries. Medical practioners in every field with a strong interest in medical history will profit from reading it as well. Certainly, libraries at every medical university and graduate school will want this book. Doody's Review Service 2009 Well written and well researched. -- Dr. John Shea MD Catholic Insight 2009 A succinct, thoughtful, well-written, and carefully argued assessment of Christian involvement with medical matters in the first five centuries of the common era... It is to Ferngren's credit that he has opened questions and explored them so astutely. This fine work looks forward as well as backward; it invites fuller refelection of the many senses in which medicine and religion intersect and merits wide readership. JAMA 2009 The story that [Ferngren] tells is provocative for Christian readers who live in a culture of fear and who tremble at the thought of new pandemics. -- Alan Kreider Christian Century 2010 We must be grateful for this closely argued book and the light it sheds on early Christian health care. -- Andrew Dauton-Fear Journal of Theological Studies 2010 The effort put into research and documentation...is remarkable. -- Halina Grzymala-Moszcynska Religion 2010 [An] excellent and thought-provoking work. -- Ildiko Csepregi Medical History 2011 A highly important investigation in medicine and healing in early Christianity. A book that every scholar of healing in early Christianity should read. -- Vernon K. Robbins Practical Matters 2011
Author Information
Gary B. Ferngren is a professor of history at Oregon State University and editor of Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, also published by Johns Hopkins.
