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Page 5



With the first great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the healing miracle—performed by mystic forces—made its appearance.

The golden age of the religious healing miracle was reached with the advent of Christianity, which established its power of healing as a basis for medicine. Christ, through his Word, performed many healing miracles. His apostles shared this divine gift. None of them is quite as interesting as St. Luke the Evangelist, whom St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, called "the beloved physician."

Impassioned by his social views, St. Luke believed in a kingdom of God that began on earth. A remarkable painter and a distinguished wood carver, St. Luke was also the best writer in the New Testament, according to Sir William Ramsay.

St. Luke cites seven healing miracles unmentioned in other gospels:

  • the raising of the widow's son at Nain
  • the healing of the woman "possessed by the spirit of disease"
  • the healing of the man who had the dropsy
  • the healing of the 10 lepers
  • the healing of Malchus' ears
  • the healing of Lazarus' sores
  • the healing of the Good Samaritan on the road to Jericho

When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state, Christians were allowed to become physicians. Classic medical texts were used in treating patients and religious hospitals were built.

For the next thousand years, medicine and religion were inextricably linked in the Christian world. When the Roman Empire began to totter and the Nordic Barbarians invaded the Empire, the monks in the quiet of their cloisters guarded the ancient medical heritage. Science became monastic and bookish.



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