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Atheist and anti-theist<\/span>\u00a0Bob Seidensticker<\/a>,\u00a0who was<\/span>\u00a0\u201craised Presbyterian\u201d<\/a>,\u00a0runs the influential<\/span>\u00a0Cross Examined<\/em><\/a>\u00a0blog. He asked me there,<\/span>\u00a0on 8-11-18<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I\u2019ve ignored on one or two of those posts?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0He added in June 2017<\/span>\u00a0in a combox<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cIf I\u2019ve misunderstood the Christian position or Christian arguments, point that out. Show me where I\u2019ve mischaracterized them.\u201d Delighted to oblige his wishes . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Bob (for the record) virtually\u00a0begged<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0pleaded<\/em>\u00a0with me to dialogue with him in May 2018, via email. But b<\/span>y\u00a010-3-18<\/a>,\u00a0following<\/span>\u00a0massive, childish name-calling attacks<\/a>\u00a0against me,\u00a0 encouraged by Bob on his blog, he banned me from commenting there. I also banned him for violation of my rules for discussion<\/a>, but (unlike him)\u00a0provided detailed reasons<\/em><\/a> for why<\/em> it was justified.<\/span><\/p>\n Bob\u2019s cowardly hypocrisy knows no bounds.<\/span>\u00a0On 6-30-19<\/a>, he was chiding someone for something very much like his own behavior:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSpoken like a true weasel trying to run away from a previous argument. You know, you could just say, \u2018Let me retract my previous statement of X\u2019 or something like that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0Yeah,\u00a0Bob<\/em>\u00a0could!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0He still hasn\u2019t yet uttered one peep in reply<\/a>\u00a0to \u2014 now \u2014 58 of my critiques of his atrocious reasoning.<\/span><\/p>\n Bible-Basher Bob reiterated and rationalized his intellectual cowardice yet again on 10-17-20:<\/span> \u201cEvery engagement with him [yours truly]<\/span> devolves into pointlessness. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever learned anything from him.\u00a0But if you find a compelling argument of his, summarize it for us.\u201d<\/span> And again the next day:<\/span> \u201cHe has certainly not earned a spot in my heart, so I will pass on funding his evidence-free project. Like you, I also find that he\u2019s frustrating to talk with. Again, I evaluate such conversations as useful if I can learn something\u2013find a mistake in my argument, uncover an error I made in Christians\u2019 worldview, and so on. Dave is good at bluster, and that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bible-Basher Bob\u2019s words will be in<\/span>\u00a0blue<\/span>.\u00a0To find these posts, follow this link:\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Seidensticker Folly #\u201d<\/a> or see all of them linked under his own section on my<\/span> Atheism page<\/a>.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The following is a critique of Bob\u2019s article, <\/span>\u201cYeah, but Christianity Built Hospitals!\u201d<\/a> (4-22-20; update of 2-6-16).<\/span><\/p>\n Many Christians will point to medieval hospitals to argue that they were pioneers in giving us the medical system that we know today. Let\u2019s consider that claim. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We can look to the Bible to see where Christian contributions to medical science come from.<\/span><\/p>\n We find Old Testament apotropaic medicine (medicine to ward off evil) in Numbers 21:5\u20139. When God grew tired of the Israelites whining about harsh conditions during the Exodus, he sent poisonous snakes to bite them. As a remedy, God told Moses to make a bronze snake (the Nehushtan). This didn\u2019t get rid of the snakes or the snake bites, but it did mean that anyone who looked at it after being bitten would magically live. So praise the Lord, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a \u201chair of the dog\u201d type of treatment, akin to modern homeopathic \u201cmedicine.\u201d Just as bronze snake statues are useless as medicine today, Jesus and his ideas of disease as a manifestation of demon possession was also useless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is an absurdly simplistic, jaded, and cynically selective (i.e., intellectually dishonest) treatment of the Bible\u2019s approach to medicine and health care (which is far more sophisticated, rightly understood). I have dealt with this (specifically or generally, with regard to larger science) at length, in reply to Bob and a similar Bible-bashing atheist, Dr. David Madison:<\/span><\/p>\n Seidensticker Folly #21: Atheist \u201cBible Science\u201d Absurdities<\/a>\u00a0[9-25-18]<\/p>\n Seidensticker Folly #23: Atheist \u201cBible Science\u201d Inanities, Pt. 2<\/a>\u00a0[10-2-18]<\/p>\n Vs. Atheist David Madison #37: Bible, Science, & Germs<\/a>\u00a0[12-10-19]<\/p>\n Seidensticker Folly #36: Disease, Jesus, Paul, Miracles, & Demons<\/a>\u00a0[1-13-20]<\/p>\n Seidensticker Folly #44: Historic Christianity & Science<\/a>\u00a0[8-29-20]<\/p>\n See many many more articles on Christianity and science on my<\/span> Atheism<\/a> and<\/span> Science<\/a> web pages, as well as my book, Science and Christianity: Close Partners or Mortal Enemies?<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0And of course, it\u2019s common knowledge (at least among fair-minded, objective thinkers) that when both modern science and modern medicine got off the ground, starting in the 15th or 16th centuries, Christian scientists were in the forefront<\/a>, and remained so<\/a> till the massive secularization of science after Darwin in the 19th century. Christianity is the furthest thing<\/em> from \u201cantithetical\u201d to science<\/a>: much as thick-skulled atheist anti-theists like Bob vainly wish it were otherwise, for their polemical purposes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Father of Western Medicine was Hippocrates, not Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n This is irrelevant, as Jesus never claimed<\/em> to be the father of medicine in the first place. But since Hippocrates was brought up, I have written in my treatment of the Bible and germs and infectious disease<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n Hippocrates, the pagan Greek \u201cfather of medicine\u201d didn\u2019t understand the causes of contagious disease. Nor did medical science until the 19th century. But the hygienic principles that would have prevented the spread of such diseases were in the Bible: in the Laws of Moses. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hippocrates, the \u201cfather of medicine\u201d (born 460 BC), thought \u201cbad air\u201d from swampy areas was the cause of disease.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mosaic Law and Hebrew hygienic practices, dating as far back as some 800 years before Hippocrates, were far more advanced:<\/span><\/p>\n 1. The Bible contained instructions for the Israelites to wash their bodies and clothes\u00a0in running water<\/em>\u00a0if they had a discharge, came in contact with someone else\u2019s discharge, or had touched a dead body. They were also instructed about objects that had come into contact with dead things, and about purifying items with an unknown history with either fire or running water. They were also taught to bury human waste outside the camp, and to burn animal waste<\/span> (Num 19:3-22;<\/a>Lev. 11:1-47<\/a>;\u00a015:1-33;<\/a>Deut 23:12<\/a>).<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Leviticus 13\u00a0and 14 mention leprosy on walls and on garments. L<\/span>eprosy is a bacterial disease, and can survive for three weeks or longer apart from the human body. Thus, God commanded that the garments of leprosy victims should be burned<\/span> (Lev 13:52<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n 3.\u00a0<\/span>It was<\/span>\u00a0not until 1873<\/a>\u00a0that leprosy was shown to be an infectious disease rather than hereditary.\u00a0Of course, the laws of Moses already were aware of that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(Lev 13, 14,\u00a022;\u00a0<\/span>Num 19:20<\/a>). It contains instructions\u00a0<\/span>about quarantine and about quarantined persons needing to\u00a0thoroughly shave and wash. Priests who cared for them also were instructed to change their clothes and wash thoroughly.\u00a0The Israelites were the only culture to practice quarantine until the 19th century, when medical advances discovered the biblical medical principles and practices.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Without science, a hospital can do nothing but provide food and comfort. Palliative care is certainly something, and let\u2019s celebrate whatever comfort was provided by church-supported hospitals, but these medieval European institutions were little more than almshouses or places to die\u2014think hospitals\u00a0without the science.<\/span><\/p>\n Christian medicine did not advance past that of Galen, the Greek physician of 2nd century who wrote medical texts and whose theories dominated Western Christian medicine for over 1300 years. Not until the 1530s (during the Renaissance) did the physician Andreas Vesalius surpass Galen in the area of human anatomy.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n First of all, I must note the silly outlook of Bob on this issue of medical advancement. If Christianity rejects anything in learning from pagan predecessors, then we catch hell. But as serious historians know, Christianity did not<\/em> do any such thing. In fact, it was in the forefront in preserving manuscripts from classical Greek and Roman learning, which it revered<\/a>. Some of it was lost in some places, and for considerable lengths of time, but that was almost solely due to pagan barbarian invasions and antipathy to learning, not Christianity per se. Historians have long since abandoned antiquated, anti-Catholic notions of the \u201cDark Ages.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, if and when Christianity follows<\/em> pagan learning and practices (as with medicine and Galen), then we are bashed for simply following precedent and not developing it further. This is downright silly. All knowledge \u2014 from whatever source \u2014 is good and ought to be gratefully and respectfully accepted and incorporated into any future advances of knowledge.\u00a0 Galen was followed by Christians because his knowledge was the best for his time<\/em> and no one surpassed it for a long time after. Even Bob (almost despite himself) notes that<\/span> \u201cGalen\u2019s]<\/span>\u00a0theories dominated Western Christian medicine for over 1300 years.\u201d Okay; then give Christianity credit<\/em> for following his science! That\u2019s obviously neither \u201canti-science\u201d nor \u201canti-pagan learning\u201d is<\/em> it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019d like to give credit where it\u2019s due. If the medieval Church catalyzed human compassion into hospitals that wouldn\u2019t have been there otherwise, that\u2019s great, . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And I sincerely give Bob credit and thank him for giving medieval Christianity at least some<\/em> credit.<\/span><\/p>\n We can get a picture of medieval Christian hospitals by looking at Mother Teresa\u2019s Missionaries of Charity hospitals. They have minor comforts, and at best they are comfortable places to die. They\u2019re not meant for treating disease . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Did Christianity retard medical science with its anti-science attitude? We forget how long a road it was to reach our modern medical understanding. The book<\/span>\u00a0Bad Medicine<\/strong><\/a><\/em>\u00a0argues that \u201cuntil the invention of antibiotics in the 1930s doctors, in general, did their patients more harm than good.\u201d Christianity might have set modern medical science back centuries.<\/span><\/p>\n Here we get to the heart of what I will object to in Bob\u2019s article. I would like to explore how Christians in the Middle Ages, in the hospitals that they spearheaded, did have treatments, and did make positive efforts to cure their patients: contrary to Bob\u2019s cynical caricatures. Surely by today\u2019s standards, whatever science was present was primitive, and was \u2014 without question \u2014 mixed with well-intentioned errors. But the latter is nothing new. Even the first \u201cmodern scientists\u201d had many false views incorporated within their worldviews,<\/span> such as alchemy and astrology<\/a>. Nor was subsequent science, even up to the 20th century<\/span>, immune from foolish errors<\/a>. Christianity by no means has a lock on (inexcusable?) errors.<\/span><\/p>\n But let\u2019s look at what these medieval hospitals were<\/em>\u00a0positively doing; what they did<\/em> know, by way of medicinal and therapeutic treatments. It\u2019s not<\/em><\/strong> true that they were<\/span> \u201canti-science\u201d<\/span> or were<\/span> \u201cnot meant for treating disease.\u201d These are lies. Even in the following article that expresses the usual hostile (and ultra-biased) attitudes towards medieval Christianity, the use of various herbal treatments couldn\u2019t be ignored:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Medicinal plants and herbs were an important and major part in the pharmacopeia. Medicines were made from herbs, spices, and resins. Dioscorides, a Greek, wrote his\u00a0Materia Medica<\/em>\u00a0in 65 AD. This was a practical text dealing with the medicinal use of more than 600 plants in the second century. Although the original text of Dioscorides is lost, there are many surviving copies. His texts formed the basis of much of the herbal medicine practiced until 1500 . Some plants were used for specific disorders, while others were credited with curing multiple diseases. In many cases, preparations were made of many different herbs. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [I]n the Middle Ages, the study of medicinal plants was in the hands of monks who in their monasteries planted and experimented on the species described in classic texts. [Dave: this scenario \u2014 let\u2019s not forget \u2014 produced Mendel, who discovered genetics] No monastic garden would have been complete without medicinal plants. The sick went to the monastery, local herbalist, or apothecary to obtain healing herbs. Most monasteries developed herb gardens for use in the production of herbal cures, and these remained a part of folk medicine, as well as were being used by some professional physicians. Books of herbal remedies were produced by monks as many monks were skilled at producing books and manuscripts and tending both medicinal gardens and the sick. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Headache and aching joints were treated with sweet-smelling herbs such as rose, lavender, sage, and hay. A mixture of henbane and hemlock was applied to aching joints. Coriander was used to reduce fever. Stomach pains and sickness were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung problems were treated with a medicine made of liquorice and comfrey. Cough syrups and drinks were prescribed for chest and head-colds and coughs. Wounds were cleaned and vinegar was widely used as a cleansing agent as it was believed that it would kill disease. Mint was used in treating venom and wounds. Myrrh was used as an antiseptic on wounds. (<\/span>\u201cThe Air of History (Part II) Medicine in the Middle Ages\u201d<\/a>; Rachel Hajar, MD;\u00a0<\/span>Heart Views<\/a><\/span><\/em>. 2012 Oct-Dec; 13(4): 158\u2013162)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s far from<\/span> \u201cnot treating disease\u201d<\/span> at all, isn\u2019t it? Therefore, Bob has presented biased anti-Christian slop once again. He made no effort to actually do research and investigate the issue. It\u2019s not his purpose. He has to run down Christianity. That\u2019s what he lives for.<\/span><\/p>\n The Wikipedia article,<\/span> \u201cMedieval medicine of Western Europe\u201d<\/a> examines these issues in infinitely more depth than Bob does. No one could read it and come away with Bob\u2019s stunted, warped, prejudiced outlook on the topic. Bob clearly has no idea what he is talking about. He\u2019s like a three-year-old lecturing on quantum mechanics or calculus: clearly over his head. Here are some excerpts:<\/span><\/p>\n The practice of medicine in the early Middle Ages was\u00a0empirical\u00a0and pragmatic. It focused mainly on curing disease rather than discovering the cause of diseases.\u00a0Often it was believed the cause of disease was supernatural. Nevertheless, secular approaches to curing diseases existed. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Folk medicine of the Middle Ages dealt with the use of herbal remedies for ailments. The practice of keeping\u00a0physic gardens\u00a0teeming with various herbs with medicinal properties was influenced by the gardens of Roman antiquity.\u00a0Many early medieval manuscripts have been noted for containing practical descriptions for the use of herbal remedies. These texts, such as the\u00a0<\/span>Pseudo-Apuleius<\/a>, included illustrations of various plants that would have been easily identifiable and familiar to Europeans at the time.\u00a0Monasteries\u00a0later became centres of medical practice in the Middle Ages, and carried on the tradition of maintaining medicinal gardens. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hildegard of Bingen\u00a0<\/a>was an example of a medieval medical practitioner while educated in classical Greek medicine, also utilized folk medicine remedies.\u00a0Her understanding of the plant based medicines informed her commentary on the humors of the body and the remedies she described in her medical text\u00a0Causae et curae<\/i>\u00a0were influenced by her familiarity with folk treatments of disease. . . . Kitchens were stocked with herbs and other substances required in folk remedies for many ailments.\u00a0Causae et curae<\/i>\u00a0illustrated a view of symbiosis of the body and nature, that the understanding of nature could inform medical treatment of the body. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Evidence of pagan influence on emerging Christian medical practice was provided by many prominent early Christian thinkers, such as\u00a0Origen,\u00a0Clement of Alexandria, and\u00a0Augustine, who studied\u00a0natural philosophy\u00a0and held important aspects of secular Greek philosophy that were in line with Christian thought. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Herbal remedies, known as\u00a0<\/span>Herbals<\/a>, along with prayer and other religious rituals were used in treatment by the monks and nuns of the monasteries. Herbs were seen by the monks and nuns as one of God\u2019s creations for the natural aid that contributed to the spiritual healing of the sick individual. An herbal textual tradition also developed in the medieval monasteries.\u00a0Older herbal Latin texts were translated and also expanded in the monasteries. The monks and nuns reorganized older texts so that they could be utilized more efficiently, adding a\u00a0table of contents\u00a0for example to help find information quickly. Not only did they reorganize existing texts, but they also added or eliminated information. New herbs that were discovered to be useful or specific herbs that were known in a particular geographic area were added. Herbs that proved to be ineffective were eliminated. Drawings were also added or modified in order for the reader to effectively identify the herb. The Herbals that were being translated and modified in the monasteries were some of the first medical texts produced and used in medical practice in the Middle Ages.<\/span><\/p>\n Not only were herbal texts being produced, but also other medieval texts that discussed the importance of the humors. Monasteries in Medieval Europe gained access to Greek medical works by the middle of the 6th century.\u00a0Monks translated these works into Latin, after which they were gradually disseminated across Europe. Monks such as Arnald of Villanova also translated the works of Galen and other classical Greek scholars from Arabic to Latin during the Medieval ages.\u00a0By producing these texts and translating them into Latin, Christian monks both preserved classical Greek medical information and allowed for its use by European medical practitioners. By the early 1300s these translated works would become available at medieval universities and form the foundation of the universities medical teaching programs. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In exchanging the herbal texts among monasteries, monks became aware of herbs that could be very useful but were not found in the surrounding area. The monastic clergy traded with one another or used commercial means to obtain the foreign herbs.\u00a0Inside most of the monastery grounds there had been a separate garden designated for the plants that were needed for the treatment of the sick. A serving plan of\u00a0St. Gall\u00a0depicts a separate garden to be developed for strictly medical herbals.\u00a0Monks and nuns also devoted a large amount of their time in the cultivation of the herbs they felt were necessary in the care of the sick. Some plants were not native to the local area and needed special care to be kept alive. The monks used a form of\u00a0science, what we would today consider\u00a0botany, to cultivate these plants. Foreign herbs and plants determined to be highly valuable were grown in gardens in close proximity to the monastery in order for the monastic clergy to hastily have access to the natural remedies.<\/span><\/p>\n Medicine in the monasteries was concentrated on assisting the individual to return to normal health. Being able to identify symptoms and remedies was the primary focus. In some instances identifying the symptoms led the monastic clergy to have to take into consideration the cause of the illness in order to implement a solution.\u00a0Research\u00a0and\u00a0experimental\u00a0processes were continuously being implemented in monasteries to be able to successfully fulfill their duties to God to take care of all God\u2019s people. . . .<\/span><\/p>\n Medieval European medicine became more developed during the\u00a0<\/span>Renaissance of the 12th century<\/a>, when many medical texts both on\u00a0<\/span>Ancient Greek medicine\u00a0<\/a>and on\u00a0<\/span>Islamic medicine\u00a0<\/a>were translated from\u00a0<\/span>Arabic\u00a0<\/a>during the 13th century<\/a>.\u00a0The most influential among these texts was\u00a0<\/span>Avicenna<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0The Canon of Medicine<\/a><\/i>, a medical encyclopedia written in\u00a0circa<\/i>\u00a01030 which summarized the medicine of Greek,\u00a0Indian\u00a0and Muslim physicians until that time. The\u00a0Canon<\/i>\u00a0became an authoritative text in European medical education until the\u00a0early modern period. Other influential texts from Jewish authors include the\u00a0<\/span>Liber pantegni\u00a0<\/a><\/i>by\u00a0<\/span>Isaac Israeli ben Solomon<\/a>, while Arabic authors contributed\u00a0<\/span>De Gradibus\u00a0<\/a><\/i>by\u00a0<\/span>Alkindus\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0<\/span>Al-Tasrif<\/a>\u2018 <\/i>by<\/span>\u00a0Abulcasis<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n At\u00a0<\/span>Schola Medica Salernitana\u00a0<\/a>in Southern Italy, medical texts from Byzantium and the Arab world (see\u00a0<\/span>Medicine in medieval Islam<\/a>) were readily available, translated from the Greek and Arabic at the nearby monastic centre of\u00a0<\/span>Monte Cassino<\/a>. The Salernitan masters gradually established a canon of writings, known as the\u00a0<\/span>Health care in the Bible<\/span><\/h3>\n
Medieval hospitals<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n