Medical Saints: Cosmas and Damian in a Postmodern World

Cosmas and Damian in a Postmodern World

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Reference, History
Cover of the book Medical Saints: Cosmas and Damian in a Postmodern World by Jacalyn Duffin, Oxford University Press, USA
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jacalyn Duffin ISBN: 9780199910953
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Publication: May 1, 2013
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Jacalyn Duffin
ISBN: 9780199910953
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication: May 1, 2013
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Cosmas and Damian were martyred around the year 300 A.D. in what is now Syria. Called the Anargyroi ("without silver") because they charged no fees, they became patrons of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy and the focus of cults ranging across Europe. They were popular in Byzantine and Orthodox traditions and their shrines are numerous in Eastern Europe, southern Italy, and Sicily. The Medici family of Florence viewed the "santi medici" as patrons, and their deeds were illustrated by great Renaissance artists. In medical literature they are now revered as patrons of transplantation. Jacalyn Duffin offers a profound exploration of illness and healing experiences in contemporary society through the veneration of the twin doctors Saints Cosmas and Damian. She also relates a personal journey, from her role as a hematologist who unexpectedly came to serve as an expert witness in the Church's evaluation of a miracle to her research as a historican on the origins, meaning, and functions of saints. Duffin's research, which includes interviews with devotees in both North America and Europe, focuses on how people have taken the saints with them as they moved both within Italy and beyond. She shows that veneration of Cosmas and Damian has spread beyond immigrant traditions to fill important functions in healthcare and healing. Duffin's conclusions provide essential insights into medical history, sociology, anthropology, and popular religion, as well as the current medical debate over spiritual healing. Medical Saints draws on medical history and Roman Catholic traditions, but extends to universal observations about the behaviors of sick people and the formal responses to individual illness from collectivities in religion, medicine, and history.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Cosmas and Damian were martyred around the year 300 A.D. in what is now Syria. Called the Anargyroi ("without silver") because they charged no fees, they became patrons of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy and the focus of cults ranging across Europe. They were popular in Byzantine and Orthodox traditions and their shrines are numerous in Eastern Europe, southern Italy, and Sicily. The Medici family of Florence viewed the "santi medici" as patrons, and their deeds were illustrated by great Renaissance artists. In medical literature they are now revered as patrons of transplantation. Jacalyn Duffin offers a profound exploration of illness and healing experiences in contemporary society through the veneration of the twin doctors Saints Cosmas and Damian. She also relates a personal journey, from her role as a hematologist who unexpectedly came to serve as an expert witness in the Church's evaluation of a miracle to her research as a historican on the origins, meaning, and functions of saints. Duffin's research, which includes interviews with devotees in both North America and Europe, focuses on how people have taken the saints with them as they moved both within Italy and beyond. She shows that veneration of Cosmas and Damian has spread beyond immigrant traditions to fill important functions in healthcare and healing. Duffin's conclusions provide essential insights into medical history, sociology, anthropology, and popular religion, as well as the current medical debate over spiritual healing. Medical Saints draws on medical history and Roman Catholic traditions, but extends to universal observations about the behaviors of sick people and the formal responses to individual illness from collectivities in religion, medicine, and history.

More books from Oxford University Press, USA

Cover of the book Reverence : Renewing A Forgotten Virtue by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book The Man Behind the Microchip : Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book China In World History by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Death and the Afterlife by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Lost Scriptures:Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Golden Harvest:Events at the Periphery of the Holocaust by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book The Bible Now by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Boardwalk of Dreams:Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Death-Devoted Heart:Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Save the World on Your Own Time by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Rebels Rising : Cities and the American Revolution by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Bismarck:A Life by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book The Arab Uprisings:What Everyone Needs to Know by Jacalyn Duffin
Cover of the book Kosovo : What Everyone Needs To Know by Jacalyn Duffin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy