Tag: Christianity
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John Calvin: his rule in Geneva and his many illnesses
At the age of twenty-three the great French religious reformer abandoned his Catholic faith, becoming in time the founder of one of the most important branches of Protestantism. During his life he wrote numerous tracts on various aspects of religion, notably emphasizing predestination and the supremacy of the Trinity, and advocating a simpler and more…
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Faith, neuroscience, and “the thorn” in Paul’s side: Abrahamic interpretations of epilepsy
Christina Perri Stony Brook, New York, United States Despite the stigma surrounding epilepsy in the Abrahamic faith traditions, some Christian art uses the boy with epilepsy as a visual metaphor for the Passion. As the boy appears to die and rise from a seizure, so too Christ dies and rises to Heaven. The experience…
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Pantaleon or Pantaleimon—A most noble physician
Maria MonteiroPorto, Portugal As information about the life of Saint Pantaleon is entangled with tradition, it difficult to distinguish myth from facts. Nevertheless, according to several sources, Pantaleon was born c. AD 275, son of the rich pagan Eustorgius of Nicomedia. His name means “a lion in everything.” Later he would be renamed Pantaleímon (from…
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Reconstructing the world’s first hospital: The Basiliad
Thomas Heyne Boston, United States St. Basil “A noble thing is philanthropy, and the support of the poor, and the assistance of human weakness…” So rang the emotional words of Bishop Gregory Nazianzen during the funeral oration delivered for his dear friend Basil of Caesarea in 379. Wishing to remind his audience of Basil’s…
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Doctorum Ecclesiae: The medical clerics of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, England
Adam S. Komorowski Sang Ik Song Limerick, Ireland It is difficult to remember that in medieval and early modern Europe the church was often the locus of medical practice and that medicine and religion had a symbiotic co-existence.1 Many of the early Christian Church Fathers, some given the title Doctors of the Church, saw their roles…
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Is healthcare a right?
Ronald Pies Boston, Massachusetts, United States Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Introduction In this paper, I examine the question of whether healthcare is regarded as a “basic human right” in the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Though…
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What God gives: Prayers from Africa
Marcia Whitney-SchenckChicago, Illinois, United States Rev. David Ambola from Mbingo, Cameroon, has remarked that Africans are incurably religious. Indeed, for many in Africa, religion permeates every aspect of their lives, from Christian messages on the rear windows of taxis to hand-crafted signs in hospital waiting rooms. Hand surgeon Dr. Robert Schenck and his wife, photographer…
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Prayers from Africa
Marcia Whitney-SchenckChicago, Illinois, United States Rev. David Ambola from Mbingo, Cameroon, has remarked that Africans are incurably religious. Indeed, for many in Africa, religion permeates every aspect of their lives, from Christian messages on the rear windows of taxis to hand-crafted signs in hospital waiting rooms. Hand surgeon Dr. Robert Schenck and his wife, photographer…