Christianity and the Middle Ages

Christianity and the Middle Ages

Many Bible readers today would be surprised to learn that people during the Christ's time on earth in fact had quite a scientific concept of health and healing. Indeed, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the society of the time tended to subscribe to the Greco-Roman idea of medicine, where a number of natural cures were available to heal the sick, who were generally regarded as being physically ill because of physical causes, rather than because of original sin or any spiritual cause such as possession by evil spirits.

The concept of illness as caused by some spiritual aberration came only later, after the Germanic tribes wrestled the territory from the Romans and Greeks. These tribes were not particularly intellectual, and were not as such interested in the writings -- medical or otherwise -- of what was until then regarded as the "civilized" world. Hence a large amount of knowledge was simply lost, much like the obliteration of the Romans and Greeks themselves.

The general effect was that those who ruled Christianity during the Middle Ages had quite a different concept of disease and the body than the early Christians during and just after the time of Christ. St. Augustine for example was among those who adhered to the concept of original sin and its effect of original punishment: humankind had to spend a lifetime in a world filled with pain, disease and death.

The body was representative of these conditions and was therefore viewed as a type of prison for the soul, which sought its eternal return to Christ. As such, the body was regarded as fallen, weak, and corrupt. Appetites and passions were to be avoided as a type of spiritual disease, for which the cure was mortifying the flesh. The desires of the flesh were to be denied to weaken the body and concomitantly strengthen the soul. The closer the body came to death, the closer the soul was to escape and indeed to God. This had some interesting consequences for the centuries to come.

All classes of people during the Middle Ages were averse to bathing, as it was seen as a way to care for the body. The body was not respected in any sense, and was neglected as much as possible. Indeed, many saw the fleas and lice that resulted from a prolonged lack of sanitation and hygiene as simply part of the body and hence of sin.

The combination of early Christianity with the folk medicines and beliefs of the invading Germanic forces also resulted in a new conception of how healing was to be achieved during the Middle Ages. The root of disease was considered to be supernatural; the afflicted had sinned or was possessed by something evil. In earlier Germanic folk wisdom, it was also believed that illness resulted from noxious darts from elves, deleterious snakes, and venomous dragons.

During the time, there was a variety of options the Christian could use to achieve healing -- also a mixture of early Christianity and Germanic Paganism. If the illness was believed to be the result of an angry God, prayers and chants were combined with confession to encourage healing. Amulets and charms were used to protect the wearer against disease-causing evil. Some believed that they were able to transfer their diseases to creatures such as frogs or snakes.