You have no items in your shopping cart.
Close
Search
Filters

Can No Physician Be Found?

The Influence of Religion on Medical Pluralism in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel


Can No Physician be Found analyzes how religion, as an expression of a universal order, is applied to the medical practices in the cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel. The comparative approach sheds light on how religious concepts shaped not only the particular medical identity of each society, but also how they can simultaneously participate in a broader medical culture spanning the ancient Near East.
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-0248-4
  • *
Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Nov 20,2013
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 170
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0248-4
$126.00
Your price: $75.60
Ship to
*
*
Shipping Method
Name
Estimated Delivery
Price
No shipping options

Can No Physician be Found analyzes how religion, as an expression of a universal order, applied to the medical practices in the cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel. The comparative approach sheds light on how religious concepts shaped not only the particular medical identity of each society, but also how they can simultaneously participate in a broader medical culture spanning the ancient Near East.

A feature common to all three cultures is the presence of two types of healers. Scholars of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia distinguish them as scientific (physician) or magical (priest) whereas biblical scholarship sees healing in connection with prophets and priests as simply miraculous. By understanding the role of religion, we can see that these ancient societies did not operate under the science/magic dichotomy but rather used the multiplicity of healers as variations within a single healing strategy based upon the ideas of illness as a divine message and healing as a method of community cohesion. One type of healer focused on the message as a form of vertical communication with the deities, maintaining a relationship between humans and the divine. The other class of healers concentrated on the horizontal mode of communication, allowing people within the community to understand the message behind the illness as well as the potential resolution to such problems in the community.

Can No Physician be Found analyzes how religion, as an expression of a universal order, applied to the medical practices in the cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Israel. The comparative approach sheds light on how religious concepts shaped not only the particular medical identity of each society, but also how they can simultaneously participate in a broader medical culture spanning the ancient Near East.

A feature common to all three cultures is the presence of two types of healers. Scholars of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia distinguish them as scientific (physician) or magical (priest) whereas biblical scholarship sees healing in connection with prophets and priests as simply miraculous. By understanding the role of religion, we can see that these ancient societies did not operate under the science/magic dichotomy but rather used the multiplicity of healers as variations within a single healing strategy based upon the ideas of illness as a divine message and healing as a method of community cohesion. One type of healer focused on the message as a form of vertical communication with the deities, maintaining a relationship between humans and the divine. The other class of healers concentrated on the horizontal mode of communication, allowing people within the community to understand the message behind the illness as well as the potential resolution to such problems in the community.

Write your own review
  • Only registered users can write reviews
*
*
Bad
Excellent
*
*
*
*
ContributorBiography

LauraZucconi

Laura M. Zucconi is an Assistant Professor at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She holds a Ph.D. in Ancient History from the University of California, San Diego. She has published numerous articles on the relationship between religion and medicine in the Ancient Near East.

  • Table of Contents (page 5)
  • Acknowledgments (page 7)
  • Abbreviations (page 9)
  • Introduction (page 11)
  • Egyptian Healing (page 25)
    • Egyptian World System (page 28)
    • Egyptian Healers (page 46)
    • Conclusion (page 62)
  • Mesopotamian Healing (page 65)
    • Mesopotamian World System (page 69)
    • Mesopotamian Healers (page 92)
    • Conclusion (page 103)
  • Healing in the Hebrew Bible (page 105)
    • World System in the Hebrew Bible (page 107)
    • Healers in the Hebrew Bible (page 123)
    • Conclusion (page 136)
  • Ancient Near Eastern Supra- and Subcultures (page 139)
  • Bibliography (page 149)
  • Index (page 165)
Customers who bought this item also bought
Picture of An Early Christian Reaction to Islam

An Early Christian Reaction to Islam

The year 652 marked a fundamental political change in the Middle East and the surrounding region. An important and contemporary source of the state of the Christian Church at this time is to be found in the correspondence of the patriarch of the Church of the East, Išū‘yahb III (649–659), which he wrote between 628 and 658. This books discusses Išū‘yahb’s view of and attitudes toward the Muslim Arabs.
$134.00 $80.40
Picture of Orthodox New Testament Textual Scholarship

Orthodox New Testament Textual Scholarship

The present study represents the first attempt to expand the methodological and practical framework of textual scholarship on the Greek New Testament from an Orthodox perspective. Its focus is on the Antoniades edition of 1904, commonly known as the Patriarchal Edition. The examination of the creation and reception of this edition shows that its textual principles are often misrepresented. In particular, it is shown to be more closely related to the Textus Receptus than to lectionary manuscripts. This is confirmed by an analysis of lectionary manuscripts using the Text und Textwert methodology and a detailed comparison of the Antoniades edition with the recent Editio Critica Maior of the Catholic Epistles. A textual commentary is provided on key verses in order to formulate guidelines for preparing an edition of the Greek New Testament that would satisfy the needs of Orthodox users in different contexts. This study offers a foundation for the further development of New Testament textual scholarship from an Orthodox perspective, informed both by modern critical scholarship and Orthodox tradition. It also provides a fresh translation of Antoniades’ introduction in an Appendix.
$114.95 $68.97
Picture of Rest in Mesopotamian and Israelite Literature

Rest in Mesopotamian and Israelite Literature

Rest in Mesopotamian and Israelite Literature studies the concept of rest in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern literature. Through close examination of Mesopotamian texts and selections from the Deuteronomistic History and Chronicles, Kim delineates a concept of rest for each body of literature, and employs a comparative approach to illuminate the rest motif in the Hebrew Bible in light of Mesopotamian literature.
$114.95 $68.97
Picture of The Lord God of Gods

The Lord God of Gods

The investigation of this book into early Jewish experiences of God begins with calls to discard any categorical and definitional approaches to the literature of early Judaism, and several enduring preconceptions about its mysticism and theology (particularly the relegation of its mysticism to particular texts and themes, and the molding of its theology in the image of medieval and post-medieval Jewish and Christian monotheisms). With this abandonment, the symbolic language of early Jewish texts gives sharper contours to a pre-formal theology, a theology in which God and divinity are more subjects of experience and recognition than of propositions. This clarity leads the investigation to the conclusion that early Judaism is thoroughly mystical and experiences a theology which is neither polytheistic, nor monotheistic, but deificational: there is only one divine selfhood, the divinity of “God,” but he shares his selfhood with “gods,” to varying degrees and always at his discretion. With some important differentiations which are also introduced here, this theology undergirds almost the entirety of early Judaism—the Bible, post-biblical texts, and even classical rabbinic literature. The greatest development over time is only that the boundaries between God and gods become at once clearer and less rigid.
$114.95 $68.97