Overview

Focusing questions of the soul and its relationship to the body in the context of Britain from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, this book exploresthe ways in which medicine and theology co-created modern perceptions of well-being. It intervenes in the presumed conflict between science and religion in long nineteenth-century studies by exposing the way medicine and theology worked together to form ideas of health and wellness. Using religious, theological, and medical history alongside literary scholarship on writers and thinkers from the French Revolution through to the fin de siècle, it illuminates how health and illness are socially constructed. In doing so, it engages with current debates on the nature of health and wellness, critiquing and contextualizing these concepts in scientific, moral, and historical terms.

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9781350410909

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Reviews

A timely, clear, and enjoyable insight into the interweaving contributions of medicine and theology on ideas of dietary and general health. Wide-ranging and perceptive, this book shows us the historical foundations of the modern obsession with diet and wellness. -- Professor Andrew Mangham, University of Reading, UK

Author Information

Dr Lesa Scholl, FRHistS, is an honorary fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Her previous publications include: Food Restraint and Fasting in Victorian Religion and Literature; Hunger, Poetry and the Oxford Movement; Medicine, Health and Being Human; and Hunger Movements in Early Victorian Literature.

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