The Reformation 1517 CE [Protestant Reformation & Counter Reformation] Also called.
Medicine and Reformation
Transcript of Medicine and Reformation
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
1/8
Medicine and the Reformation
Submitted by
Elizabeth Ping
Submitted to the Department of History
January 2, 2011
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
2/8
Medicine evolved during the Reformation and was greatly influenced by religious
philosophy. By using the medical discipline as an integral part in supporting and justifying
Protestant theology, medicine altered in the way physicians received their training and in the way
physicians chose to practice. The interplay of religion and medicine allowed different views of
the world to take form which were largely shaped by Marten Luther and his acquaintances.
Particularly, the Reformation increased interest in charity for the poor and better treatment for
those suffering from disease; and increased acceptance of human dissection for gaining insight
into the human body and its connection with the soul; and the view that the physician is an
extension of Gods love for others.
Healthcare
A burgeoning interest in healthcare came as a result of charity for the poor. Luther and
his friend, Johannes Bugenhagen promoted poor relief.1 Bugenhagan divided the church money
into two categories which devoted one chest to the poor. This was unlike Catholicism which
spent much of its money on trying to reach salvation and allowed donors to give money for the
poor without fear of the church using the money on self-interests.2 Also, Bugenhagen ensured
that funding never became depleted in case of unforeseen emergencies such as an increase in the
number who contract the plague or an unexpected birth.
Bugenhagen implemented health reforms centering on baptism, midwifery, nursing, and
hospitals. He argued that midwives should be regulated, qualified, and honest. 3 For one of the
first times in history, midwives became licensed and citizens began to expect births to be
1Peter Elmer, The healing arts: health, disease, and society in Europe , 1500-1800
(United Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2004), 101.2 Ibid., 102.3 Ibid., 103.
2
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
3/8
attended by honorable and competent midwives. Hospitals were constructed outside of cities and
staffed with nurses to treat plague victims. Furthermore, the number of hospitals for syphilis or
the pox increased as concern for the spread of the disease took hold. Church officials advised
those suffering from the illness to be treated and for those who want to donate their money, to
view effects of the illness first hand by visiting one of the hospitals. By Bugenhagens promotion
of public health concerns, the medical community gained the necessary funding, support, and
personnel to treat the diseases of the day.
Rational Thought
The study of anatomy and physiology gained more acceptance as anatomical dissection became
to be viewed as a religious endeavor that could reveal the mysteries of Gods works.4 By the late
sixteenth century, Protestantism emphasized anatomical instruction and began to differ from
traditional, Catholic medical education which did not place emphasis and anatomy and
dissections to such an extent.5 The adoption of anatomy back into medical training came as an
indirect result of Luther who championed reason as the endowment that gave humans power,
virtue, knowledge, and glory.6Reason to Luther, set humans apart from beasts and was seen as
an extension of God for producing good. This belief allowed for the approval of liberal education
otherwise viewed as pagan.7 Likewise, Protestantism directed the search for medical rationale in
medical treatments since previously pilgrimages to holy sites became discouraged. Realizing that
it would be difficult to limit the public from visiting the holy sites for their healing properties,
natural explanations were sought as to why some places appeared to cure ailments. Luther
4 Ibid., 87.5Jurgen Helm and Annette Winkelmann, Religious confessions and the sciences in the
sixteenth century (Netherlands, Brill, 2001), 64.6 Marty Martin, Martin Luther: A life (New York: NY, Penguin Books, 2004), 8.7 Ibid., 7.
3
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
4/8
argued that God gave man the ability to think so that man could use tools such as medicine in
order to have healthy, productive lives. In the same way that God gave man the ability to make
clothes, to be used as protection against the elements, God gave man the ability to make
medicine to be used for healing.
An acquaintance of Luther, Philip Melanchthon, based his medical school curriculum at
Wittenberg University on the exploration of dissected bodies - a practice that was not usually
socially acceptable. Melanchthon felt that the study of anatomy and physiology was beneficial to
all Christians who desired to affirm Gods existence and not just those aspiring to become
physicians.8Anatomical observations could then be viewed as a nutrix or provider of virtue that
allows man to view the human body as an identity that was intentionally and not accidentally
composed by a higher being.
Melanchthon furthermore attempted to define the nature of the human soul by studying
the different organs that comprise an individual.9 He believed that anatomy could illuminate the
workings of the soul and that a better understanding of the soul could therefore be reached. He
described in his book, Commentarius de Anima, that the soul is divided into different parts.10
This tripartition of the soul based on anatomical studies, placed reason in the brain, affections in
the heart, and instincts in the liver. Melanchthon used his thoughts on the soul to describe that
before the fall of man, humans the soul existed in harmony but that the fall caused the souls
affects to wander around the other parts of the soul since the knowledge of God had been tainted.
He argued that the parts of the soul could be reunited and strengthened by learning about God
because affections would be renewed and Gods spirit would be produced. Thus by interpreting
8 Jurgen Helm and Annette Winkelmann, 57.9 Ibid., 58.10 Ibid., 59.
4
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
5/8
the body and the relationship between organ systems, Melanchthon integrated religion and
medical sciences in a way that would have lasting influences.
Physicians
Luther became influential in changing how the public viewed physicians by emphasizing
that most diseases could be traced to natural explanations and were not always caused by black
magic and Satan. He promoted medicine by advocating that physicians should be used whenever
possible to treat a disease and that God would reveal medical information the physicians who
sought for answers. Physicians were, in this way, similar to ministers who could heal the heart
and soul and act as extensions of Gods will. Specifically, Luther recommended the use of
apothecaries, barbers, physicians, and nurses to cure physical ailments when he ministered to the
sick.11He also recommended fumigation for homes contaminated with the plague and avoidance
of unnecessary travel and exposure to different places. During the plague, Luther also suggested
that neighbors help each other and provide sympathetic support to the sick and to the mourning.
The period of the Reformation had lasting effects on the training of physicians and practice
of medicine. Interest in healthcare and charity for the poor increased, creating a demand for qualified
individuals who could assist in treating the sick. Dissections of human specimens became more
acceptable since it was seen as beneficial to gain an understanding of the bodys physiology in order
to understand how to keep the soul free from sin and corruption. In turn, early anatomist imparted
greater knowledge of human physiology, and disease became perceived as a more natural state of
existence that could and should be cured with medicine. The use of physicians became endowed as
Luther proclaimed that they should be used in conjunction with spiritual guidance to cure the sick
11 Martin Luther and Theodore Tappert, Luther: Letters of spiritual counsel(Philadelphia:
PA, Westminster Press, 2003), 17.
5
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
6/8
allowing. The Reformation in this perspective can ultimately be seen as an advancement of medicine
through a desire to understand and uphold religious doctrine.
6
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
7/8
Bibliography
Elmer, Peter. The healing arts: health, disease, and society in Europe , 1500-1800. United
Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2004.
Helm, Jurgen and Annette Winkelmann. Religious confessions and the sciences in the sixteenth
Century. Netherlands, Brill, 2001.
Luther Martin and Theodore Tappert, Luther: Letters of spiritual counsel. Philadelphia: PA,
Westminster Press, 2003.
Martin, Marty. Martin Luther: A life. New York: NY, Penguin Books, 2004.
7
-
8/7/2019 Medicine and Reformation
8/8
1