Is there such a thing as "secular medicine"? - Part 2

[Continued from part 1]
Early Religion and Medicine Inseparable
Nutton further notes the religious ties of classical secular medicine:

The relationship between religious and secular healing, and between their practitioners, is far too complex to fit a neat opposition between religion and medicine …[1]

In other words, the boundary between the two, if one existed, is nearly impossible to delineate. Nutton then makes the following comment, no doubt reflected in the Hippocratic Oath, joining this tactic of Satan with so-called secular medicine:

… Asclepius came to symbolise not just the power of the gods to heal and save but also the art of medicine itself as contrasted with other healing alternatives. Asclepius possessed the skills, talents and attributes of the good human doctor. For a doctor to reject Asclepius and his healings might also be for him to reject the very things for which medicine was thought to stand. In this way religious and secular healing reinforced rather than opposed each other.[2]

What we see in these comments is that so-called secular or Hippocratic medicine remained very tied up with the cult of Asclepius most notably, as well as other pagan religious beliefs, in part due to the belief that Hippocrates (c.460-c.370 BC) was a descendent of Asclepius,[3] but also because of the long history of medicine as an integral part of pagan religion. Jayne tells us that the serpent symbolized Asclepius himself,[4] so it can readily be seen, then, why the rod of Asclepius with the single serpent is a symbol of his power to heal and the apparent character of his healing work, and why it has carried over to this day. The rod of Asclepius represents in a single symbol the essence of the Hippocratic Oath, the essence of medicine which is so very important to our modern concept of medicine – one might call it the soul of Western medicine – which is firmly rooted in the cult of Asclepius.
Furthermore, some ancient sources claim that Hippocrates borrowed his cures from the testimonies inscribed on the walls of the temple of Asclepius at Cos, which were quite amazing to any reader. One example is the testimony of a man who went to a temple of Asclepius with one eye and left with two, the god having applied an ointment of some sort to his eye socket while he slept in the temple – a part of a broader ritual called incubation.[5] Hippocrates looked for patterns of working, just as the Greek philosophers looked for laws of Nature – procedures that could be repeated outside the healing temples.[6] He is considered the first major practitioner of secularized medicine, yet, seeing the above, how secular was it in reality?
Galen (129-c.200 or 216 AD), who influenced Western medicine for about 1600 years or more, is reported to have been called into the study of medicine by Asclepius when he appeared in a dream to Galen’s father Nicon.[7] Later, as Galen – “an avowed ‘worshipper of Asclepius’” – pursued medicine, Asclepius appeared to him on occasion in dreams, and Galen reportedly corrected his notes according to the counsel of Asclepius in his dreams.[8]
This is all well and good, but we tend to think of Greek and Roman mythology as quaint stories or fables, and we forget that this was the polytheistic religion of the Greeks and Romans. The works of mythology were their equivalent of our Old Testament, at least to some degree – these works are the history of their gods and their beliefs. As Paul said, even though we know these gods are nothing, there are demons who work behind the scenes.[9] As I said earlier, the “god of this world” is seeking to keep people away from Jesus, the only true Savior and mediator between God and men. We dare not take lightly these associations with pagan gods, which is in reality occult.
The Eye of Horus
One last symbol I want to address is the Rx symbol found on pharmacies and on prescription pads. It is often referred to as the eye of Horus or at least derived from it.[10] Horus was an Egyptian healing god. Walter Jayne says the following, which may have influenced the thinking of early practitioners:

All the people wore about the neck amulets, charms, and talismans of stone or knots of cloth on which magic words of power had been inscribed, or over which priests had recited magic texts, the ‘eye of Horus,’ ‘the intact eye’ (uzait), which gave health and soundness of sight, being the most popular protection against illness.[11]

Günther Eichhorn adds the following explanation as to how this symbol may have carried over to the present day:

The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet, and as a medical measuring device, using the mathematical proportions of the eye[12] to determine the proportions of ingredients in medical preparations. … The Egyptians did write prescriptions. Those prescriptions were first magical verses, and then the real prescription. The Eye of Horus was an important part of the magical part of the prescription. With time the magical part became smaller, and the real prescription more important. Eventually, all that was left of the magical verse was the Eye of Horus. It remained in prescriptions to this day as the R at the beginning of each prescription …[13]

Medicine, the gods and magic
Add to all this these words of Eusebius (c.263-c.339 AD) which refer to another Egyptian god of healing, one of the most ancient of Egyptian gods, Apis:

The healing art is said to have been invented by Apis the Egyptian . . . and afterwards improved by Aesculapius.[14]

In other words, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea of Palaestina and referred to as the “Father of Church History,” is saying that one of the most ancient men of Egypt and one of early Greece, both deified after their deaths to become healing gods of their peoples and both thoroughly pagan, were what one might call the fathers of the healing arts of the West. Add to this that Jayne, in his book The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations, says all the healing arts were completely entwined with their gods and some form of magic or similar occult practice. Only of ancient Babylon and Assyria does he say there might have been some form of what we might call secular medicine which was considered less effective than the healing provided in their temples, and those physicians were “held in comparatively small esteem” compared to the priests.[15] This comment regarding medicine in ancient Egypt typifies this belief in the ancient world:

Remedies without magic were valueless or failed of their full effect ... Healing had developed with magic, it was inseparably connected with it, and all evidence indicates that it was never emancipated from it.[16]

As I began reading Jayne’s work, I thought to myself that surely some medical care was performed apart from the gods and magic, such as setting broken bones. As it turns out, there were incantations for even this type of medical care. Jayne provides no evidence of any accompanying manipulation of the bones such as setting the bones as practiced today.
Recently, I saw a program on the History Channel regarding what archeologists now believe about the work force of ancient Egypt that built the pyramids. They were not slaves but more of a union-style workforce that was well cared for. The program made a special point of the quality of medical care received by showing the leg bone of a worker’s mummified remains. The leg had evidently been broken, and a purported expert indicated surprise at the high level of medical care for the period in the handling of this leg injury. The medical treatment for a broken bone in ancient Egypt was an incantation. Could this be an indication that this practice was perhaps efficacious?[17] If not, their knowledge of dealing with this injury surprised the researchers.
[Continued in part 3]

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[1] Nutton, p. 103.
[2] Ibid., p. 114 – emphasis added.
[3] Ibid., p. 56 – Nutton cites a passage in Plato’s Protagoras as the authority of this claim.
[4] Jayne, Walter Addison, M.D., The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations, (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, Inc., 1962, originally published 1925), p. 242.
[5] Ibid., p. 230.
[6] Temkin, p. 54, is somewhat suspicious of this claim, yet admits it is an open question. Nutton claims this is “demonstrably false” (Nutton, p. 61), yet I had trouble following her references to support this claim. In fact, in the very next sentence, she states that Galen believed Hippocrates recorded “at least part of the collection … to preserve the oral doctrines of the family of Asclepiads that were in danger of disappearing because they were handed down only by word of mouth.” In any case, I find it hard to believe that Hippocrates was able to ignore completely his pagan background and start from scratch. She clearly has somewhat of a secularized bias as a general tone of her work.
[7] Nutton, p. 217.
[8] Ibid., p. 279.
[9] 1 Corinthians 10:20-21.
[10] Jayne, p. vi, see also http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/eye_of_horus.html.
[11] Ibid., pp. 40-41.
[12] For these mathematical properties, see Wikipedia – Eye of Horus.
[13] Eichhorn, Günther, “Ancient Egyptian Symbols” from http://gei.aerobaticsweb.org/egypt_symbols.html noted on July 26, 2008 – emphasis added.
[14] Eusebius of Caesarea, Preparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel), Tr. E. H. Gifford (1093), Book X, VI, 26. See this link for the text. Note that “Aesculapius” is the Roman form of the Greek Asclepius.
[15] Jayne, p. 104.
[16] Ibid., p. 45.
[17] I can’t find a reference for this particular program. If any of my readers saw it and can help me with this, I would appreciate it.

Is there such a thing as "secular medicine"? - Part 1

I just read a book entitled The Biblical Guide to Alternative Medicine by Dr. Neil T. Anderson and Dr. Michael Jacobson.[1] It attempts to give some form of guidance to Christians for determining which forms of medicine are acceptable to Christians, and which ones Christians should avoid. The authors put it this way:

The invasion of … unbiblical medical philosophies and practices into the Church may be the biggest threat to our spirituality in the twenty-first century. We routinely come across Christians who have subjected themselves to pseudomedical practices that leave them in spiritual bondage.[2]

While they don’t elaborate in this book as to kind of spiritual bondage they are referring to, it is clearly a warning. The problem is that the whole book is lacking even one form of medicine that isn’t unbiblical in some way and, hence, according to what they say above, a potential threat to Christian spirituality. They state clearly that no existing form of medicine fits the criteria of evaluation they provide – even mainstream, Western medicine is one of these unbiblical invaders. At the same time, they provide a confusing message that allows for some Christians to participate in all forms of medicine they evaluate in this book, even those they consider spiritually dangerous.

The comment “any harbor in a storm” very much applies here. When suffering is great enough, relief is desperately welcomed no matter the source of the relief or the cost. This is not much different from African and Asian Christians going to witchdoctors for cures simply because they work when Western medicine fails, and relief is all that matters. What is of greater concern, however, is that many Christians aren’t even aware of the spiritual bondage Anderson and Jacobson are talking about, but for this series of posts, I want to address only the spiritual roots of Western medical practice rather than the consequences.

On the back cover, the authors – or publishers – make four statements which I will list here:

Every system of medicine is founded on a religious system of thought.

No system of medicine can claim Christianity as its birthright. For any given illness every person must discern which approach is best for them in light of biblical revelation and individual needs.

Despite the popular notion that the word “holistic” is a New Age concept, biblical medicine is definitely wholistic – and should be thought of and discerned as such.

Western medicine is not infallible and must be evaluated using the same criteria as other forms of medicine.[3]

The first two statements will likely come as a surprise to most of us. We can’t see the pagan religious foundations of Western medicine because it has become very secularized, and we have assumed it to be reasonably Christian. The pagan symbols are so ubiquitous that we hardly notice them anymore, certainly not as pagan.

The Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius

If you doubt this, consider the caduceus – the staff having wings and two snakes wrapped around it in a double-helix that appears in pharmacies, on ambulances, in hospitals and on pins worn by medical practitioners – the caduceus is found basically all over the medical profession.

I have heard some Christians say it is the bronze serpent made by Moses to heal the Israelites when they were bitten by a venomous snake. All the Israelites had to do was look at the bronze (“fiery” in the KJV) serpent and they would live.[4] Centuries later, Hezekiah had to destroy the serpent because the people were making sacrifices to it,[5] no doubt to try to regain some of its original healing power – perhaps beyond the healing of snake bites. Comforting as it might be for Jews and Christians to believe the caduceus is a memorial of Moses’ serpent, it is a false comfort.

Every source I’ve found thus far says the caduceus is from classical mythology. It is the rod, wand or staff of Hermes or Mercury, depending on whether you’re talking Greek or Roman mythology, respectively. The symbol with the single snake is the rod of Asclepius,[6] the Greek and Roman god of healing. The rod of Asclepius is generally used by professional associations whereas the wand of Hermes is used more often commercially. This isn’t hard and fast – I guess it’s a matter of taste.[7]

The reason for the rod of Asclepius being a symbol of medicine will become clear later. The wand of Hermes/Mercury is not so clear. The association seems to come from alchemy which later became chemistry and chemical pharmacy. Hermes was traditionally considered a master of alchemy whose purported works were passed down in the Hermetic Corpus, but this is speculatio"n on my part at this time. Details will have to await another post. However, Keith Blayney agrees with this assessment and adds the following:

The link between the caduceus of Hermes (Mercury) and medicine seems to have arisen by the seventh century A.D., when Hermes had come to be linked with alchemy. Alchemists were referred to as the sons of Hermes, as Hermetists or Hermeticists and as "practitioners of the hermetic arts". There are clear occult associations with the caduceus.[8]

The Hippocratic Oath

Consider also the Hippocratic Oath sworn by new doctors, at least in its older, probably original form. I won’t cite it all here, except to quote the first part:

I swear by Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath. …

Apollo was also a healing god of the Greeks, father of Asclepius. Hygieia and Panacea were the daughters of Asclepius. Notice the similarity of Hygieia to the word hygiene. Hygieia was the “goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation.”[9] Panacea was the goddess of cures. Hygieia and Panacea had brothers, too, gods of diagnostics and surgery among them.[10] Medicine was a family affair, it seems. So it makes sense that the gods referenced by name would be these four, these being the most prominent healing gods of Greece and Rome throughout the classical period – at least from all my reading on the history of medicine.

Asclepius

Asclepius is a notable case. His cult and his few temples – sites of miraculous healing – presented great challenges to Christianity. Vivian Nutton makes the following observation regarding the prevalence of Asclepius in classical Greece and Rome:

Associations of worshippers of Asclepius are known from across the Greek world from the fourth or third century BC until the third century AD. No other divinity in Classical Greece made so swift or so effective a transition from a mainly local to a pan-Hellenic deity.[11]

We might be tempted to think of this as simply a human or sociological phenomenon, but we, as Christians, must keep in mind that the world is a battle field where the “god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”[12] Owsei Temkin illustrates one way this took place:

The healing god Asclepius, whose miracles were part of his official cult, became the main rival of the Christ.[13]

Mary Hamilton elaborates on this:

It is probable that Christianity in supplanting paganism found the work comparatively easy so far as the Olympian gods were concerned. Their aloofness from the practical affairs of man tended to alienate their worshippers, and it was a simple matter to cast off allegiance. A harder task awaited the new religion when it sought to dispossess the chthonian deities whose general beneficence and gifts of healing had bound them closely to the people. Worshippers were attracted and their devotion intensified by tangible benefits conferred and help given in times of stress. The faith thus practically engendered and rewarded proved a stubborn barrier to the onward march of Christianity. Paganism made its last stand in the temples of Serapis and Asklepios, and their powers of resistance were due to the cures performed under their auspices in the name of the god.[14]

Relief from suffering is one of the most powerful inducements to allegiance. One powerful technique in interrogating prisoners of war is to induce suffering and privation and then offer them relief contingent on their cooperation. So it seems this is one powerful tool of Satan as mentioned earlier – “any harbor in a storm.” So it was in the early centuries of the Church – pagans, and even suffering Christians, ran to where the power was found for healing. What makes this situation worse is the close relationship of religion and medicine – even if that religion is today’s secular humanism or scientific atheism.

[Continued in part 2]

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[1] Anderson, Dr. Neil T. and Dr. Michael Jacobson, The Biblical Guide to Alternative Medicine ( Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2003).

[2] Ibid., p. 10 – emphasis added.

[3] Ibid., back cover. In all these points, italics are those of the authors/publisher.

[4] Numbers 21:9-10.

[5] 2 Kings 18:4.

[6] There are many variants of spelling that I’ve found: Æsculapius and Asklepios among them. The different spellings depend upon whether the writers are citing Roman or Greek sources or those so inclined, such as writers in different regions.

[7] Wikipedia - Caduceus.

[8] Blayney, Keith, "The Caduceus vs the Staff of Asclepius (Asklepian)," first published September 2002, revised October 2005.

[9] Wikipedia - Hygieia.

[10] Wikipedia – Panacea.

[11] Nutton, Vivian, Ancient Medicine ( London: Routledge, 2004), p. 106.

[12] 2 Corinthians 4:4.

[13] Temkin, Owsei, Hippocrates in a World of Pagans and Christians (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), p. 75.

[14] Hamilton, Mary, Incubation; or, The Cure of Disease in Pagan Temples and Christian Churches (St. Andrews: W.C. Henderson & Sons, University Press, 1906), p. 109 – emphasis added.