The role of religion in the history of medicine

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Miles Murdoch        11/10/09

The role of religion in the history of medicine

Throughout the history of human health, religion has had both beneficial and detrimental effects.

The very first historic discoveries were found in the pre-historic time. It is very difficult to understand pre-historic mans view on medicine, for they had no form of writing, thus no written records. One of the main findings are of “trephined” skulls. The process of trephining is when one cuts a large hole in the back of the skull. Often, skulls are found with the bone at the edge having grown back a little where it was cut. This proves that some victims of trephining lived for many years after the operation.

The state of medicine during the Middle Ages was dire. Then, as in much of history, the Church played a major role in providing health care. Priests were the principal caregivers. However, illness was viewed in those days as punishment from God, so treatment often involved tormenting the body to expel evil ‘spirits’. Later, the concept of the “four humours” arose, which led to very odd cures including “bleeding” the patient and inhaling different mixtures. Some Church teachings actively discouraged the advancement of medical science. Also, the Church forbade dissections of human or animal cadavers, preventing any comprehensive knowledge of anatomy or physiology.

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The advance of medicine develops as one encounters Egyption, Minoan, Greek and Hippocratic medicine. The Egyptian civilization advanced medicine in the fact that they were the first to understand the position of the bodies internal organs. Due to religious beliefs, through the process of mummification, Egyptian doctors learnt more about human anatomy. The other important part of the Egyptians was that they were the first to have specialized professions, such as doctors. The Greeks failed to advance very far medically, due to their religious beliefs, meaning that during their time, religion had a detrimental effect on the advance of medicine. ...

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