Health Crises, Medicine, and Religion

In 1862, a measles epidemic swept across Japan infecting more than 60% of people with a case fatality rate of almost 20% in some areas.[1] In response, people turned not only to the science of the day, but also to religion in their search for answers and remedies. Prints about measles known as hashika-e offered the general public advice on diet and lifestyle encouraging the afflicted to refrain from sexual intercourse and oily foods, for example. These documents simultaneously depicted deities such as Mugidono Daimyōjin (the god of wheat), whom people would attempt to ‘transfer the disease to…or…invoke…to lessen the severity of a case.’[2] In other words, religion and contemporary medical thought lived a complimentary coexistence within the realm of health.

I believe that the coexistence of medicine and religion, and the human turning to both the medical and religious worlds for answers and remedies, reflects the way in which we human beings have behaved across the centuries and continue to behave into the present day. History is replete with examples of the intertwined nature of medicine and religion from every geographical sphere. Writing on the Black Death in the Middle East, Joseph P. Bryne, for instance, notes that:

When plague struck Islamic regions from the 14th century, the cultures unified by Islam had several approaches to disease and to healing in general. These included pre-Islamic folkloric traditions and magic, Islamic prophetic medicine based upon the Hadith and traditions about Muhammad, strains of learned traditions of Persian and Indian Ayurvedic medicine, and the Greek medicine attributed to Hippocrates, Galen, and late antique successors.

Joseph P. Byrne, “Arabic-Persian Medicine and Practitioners,” Encyclopedia of the Black Death (ABC-CLIO, 2012), 19.

Importantly he notes that people ‘had recourse to informal practitioners of magic and folk healing traditions and to bimaristans and those who worked within their walls.’[3] Farren Yero, on the other hand, notes the complimentary relationship of medicine and religion during the response to the smallpox epidemic in New Granada between 1802 and 1805. She writes:

…religion played an extraordinary role in the dissemination of the [smallpox] vaccine and the response to the…epidemic. Officials accompanied the vaccine with sermons, pastoral letters, and other media intended to imbue it with both spiritual and political significance.

Farren Yero, “Divine Interventions: Revolution, Religion, and Smallpox in New Granada (1802-1805),” Age of Revolutions (07/02/2022).

Certainly, there are also historical examples of conflict between religion and medicine, however, I don’t think that it is the case that humans suddenly abandoned religious behaviours and explanations with the enlightenment and the progression of modern science. Rather they have continued to make simultaneous and complimentary recourse to both contemporary scientific knowledge and religion. To use a personal example, when I had my yearly health check last year I not only ensured that I was maintaining a healthy diet and exercising in preparation, but as I walked to the medical facility, I made sure to make my oblations at each shrine and temple that I passed en route. I suspect the act of praying offered reassurance on a day that I usually find quite stressful and also provided me with a sense of agency over aspects of my health that may not be within my direct control. I dare not imagine that I am a unique example, but instead suspect that others also engage in dual medical and religious practices when it comes to their health.

All that said, the image of the world that we are presented with is one in which science and medicine are in conflict with religion. Scientific and religious truths are seen as diametrically opposed, as irreconcilable, as things that we must choose between. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is manifested in the media’s focus on the anti-vaccine and anti-mask movements and their relationship to the Christian right.[4] Whilst this relationship undoubtedly exists, the global take up of COVID-19 vaccines suggests that most religious people have continued to act according to historical patterns by embracing medical remedies whilst also continuing to hold onto their religious beliefs and practices.

For Christians the act of turning to both scientific and religious remedies and explanations during health crises has not only a historical grounding, but also a biblical one. The Bible depicts God as a healer. This is established in the Hebrew Bible where God describes Herself as a healer stating, for example, in Exodus 15:26 ‘I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you’ (NIV). This motif continues into the New Testament with Christ’s miracles of healing. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the biblical account depicts God as the only healer or that all healing comes directly from God. Rather we can see that characters in the biblical world turned both to God and to medicine.

For example, the account in 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38 report that when Hezekiah fell ill, he not only prayed and received God’s help, but also received medical treatment (the application of a poultice of figs). The shorter account in 2 Kings 20:2-7 states:

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

2 Kings 20:2-7 (NIV).

In James 5:14, the sick are instructed to ‘call the elders…to pray over them and anoint them with oil’ (NIV) thus illustrating both a recourse to religion (prayer) and medicine (anointing) and the intertwined nature of these things. Ultimately, the passage identifies the faithfulness with which the prayer is given as the route to healing. Be that as it may, since both prayer and anointing are prescribed, the passage seems to indicate that things are not to be left solely to God. Although healing in the Bible is often God-centred, there are instances, such as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan where religious elements are absent. In the parable, the injured man is abandoned by the religious world with the priest and the Levite ignoring his plight, however, the Samaritan takes pity on him and provides medical assistance – ‘He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.’ (Luke 10:34, NIV). Jesus instructs us to ‘Go and do likewise’ (Luke 10:37, NIV) – to have mercy, to provide medical care, to provide shelter.

What is clear is that in the biblical account both religious and medical remedies and explanations have a place. Whilst the Bible ultimately attributes health and healing to God, this does not mean that we are required to reject medicine. Conversely, Christ calls us to actively administer care to those in need. Turning then to the COVID-19 pandemic it is important to emphasize that the acceptance and use of masks and vaccination is neither at odds with the examples provided by God in the Bible nor with the behaviour that humans have adopted throughout history. The Bible and our historically lived experience encourage us to draw on both medicine and religion.

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References

[1] James Morris, “Good Foods and Bad Foods: The 1862 Measles Epidemic and Diet in Edo,” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia, no. 4(Spring 2022).

[2] Gregory Smits, “Warding off Calamity in Japan: A Comparison of the 1855 Catfish Prints and the 1862 Measels Prints,” East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, No. 30 (2009): 14.

[3] Joseph P. Byrne, “Arabic-Persian Medicine and Practitioners,” Encyclopedia of the Black Death (ABC-CLIO, 2012), 21.

[4] See for example: Michael Coren, “How the Christian right is driving the anti-vax movement,” The New Statesman (01/12/2021).

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© James Harry Morris, 2023.

This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Cover Image: “NHS medics prepare to join the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone” by DFID – UK Department for International Development is licensed under CC BY 2.0.