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Cerebral subjectivity—the identification of the individual self with the brain—is a belief that has become firmly entrenched in modern science and popular culture. In The Care of the Brain in Early Christianity, Jessica Wright traces its roots to tensions within early Christianity over the brain’s role in self-governance and its inherent vulnerability. Examining how early Christians appropriated medical ideas, Wright tracks how they used these ideas for teaching ascetic practices, developing therapeutics for the soul, and finding a path to salvation. Bringing a medical lens to religious discourse, this text demonstrates that rather than rejecting medical traditions, early Christianity developed by creatively integrating them.
Price: $95.00
Pages: 310
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
13 December 2022
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520387676
Format: Hardcover
"This book makes two important contributions: it illuminates early Christian engagements with ancient medicine and shows how these medical theories shaped early Christian theological anthropology. Scholars of early Christianity and the history of medicine will find this an engaging read."
"Highly original... [a] beautifully written study of the concept of the brain as a powerful and multi-functional tool."
"This is a valuable study, carefully and comprehensively researched, beautifully written and well produced, of importance to many fields including the history of science, psychology, western culture and Christianity. It deserves a wide readership."
"While this book will be of interest to scholars of early Christianity and the history of medicine, the monograph’s implications are more far-reaching."
"The fusion of ideas about reason and governance in the brain within early Christian thought forms an unexplored but crucial stage in the history of the brain as the putative key to what it means to be human. The book describes how this process unfolded in the images and arguments of early Christian texts from ca. 200 to 600 c.e."
"Highly original... [a] beautifully written study of the concept of the brain as a powerful and multi-functional tool."
"This is a valuable study, carefully and comprehensively researched, beautifully written and well produced, of importance to many fields including the history of science, psychology, western culture and Christianity. It deserves a wide readership."
"While this book will be of interest to scholars of early Christianity and the history of medicine, the monograph’s implications are more far-reaching."
"The fusion of ideas about reason and governance in the brain within early Christian thought forms an unexplored but crucial stage in the history of the brain as the putative key to what it means to be human. The book describes how this process unfolded in the images and arguments of early Christian texts from ca. 200 to 600 c.e."
Jessica L. Wright is an independent researcher.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Circulation and Performance of Medical Knowledge in Late Antiquity
2. The History of the Brain in Ancient Greek Medicine and Philosophy
3. The Invention of Ventricular Localization
4. The Governing Brain
5. The Rhetoric of Cerebral Vulnerability
6. Insanity, Vainglory, and Phrenitis
7. Humanizing the Brain in Early Christianity
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Circulation and Performance of Medical Knowledge in Late Antiquity
2. The History of the Brain in Ancient Greek Medicine and Philosophy
3. The Invention of Ventricular Localization
4. The Governing Brain
5. The Rhetoric of Cerebral Vulnerability
6. Insanity, Vainglory, and Phrenitis
7. Humanizing the Brain in Early Christianity
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index