Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31823/d.30.4.1
From the Mythological to the Christian Understanding of Illness: a Historical-Critical Approach
Ivan Bodrožić
orcid.org/0000-0001-9399-9420
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The author of this research, in three units, deals with the change of paradigm in the world of late antiquity in understanding illness. First, he examined illness in antiquity and late antiquity, which were dominated by two basic approaches: medical and religious (pagan, mythological). The second chapter deals with theories regarding the causes of illness, where the author highlights three fundamental ways of their interpretation: philosophical, medical, and religious. The last chapter is dedicated to studying the Christian attitude toward illness, following the texts and testimonies of the holy fathers in the first few centuries. The author arranged his claims in three parts: first, he tried to answer the question of what illness is and what are its causes from a Christian perspective; then, he tried to define the role of God in treating illness; and finally, he emphasized the role of Christ as a physician as understood in early Christian theology. The author’s main conclusion is that Christians made the biggest change in paradigm and life attitudes toward medicine thanks to a different notion of God, and everything that was in accordance with their awareness of God remained unchanged. That is why they did not challenge philosophy or medicine as a science, although they made certain shifts and introduced innovations.
Keywords
illness; early Christianity; health; medicine; pagan religion and illness; ancient philosophy and illness; Christus Medicus
Hrčak ID:
294703
URI
Publication date:
2.3.2023.
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