Description
Book SynopsisAiming to develop a less studied literary genre, this book provides a well-rounded picture of spiritual and physical diseases and their remedies as they were ingrained in the imagination and practices of Middle Eastern Abrahamic cultures, with a special emphasis of Christian communities (Greeks/Byzantines, Syrians, Armenians, Georgians, Ethiopians). The volume traces traditions dealing with the onset of a disease in the body and soul, the search for remedy, the maintenance of healing, and the engagement of these processes with faith—either through their affirmation in the public sphere or remaining within the personal framework, as in monastic traditions. A recurring presence in religious literature and the history of the intellectual world, the confrontation between disease and healing may well still be current for our modern understanding of the paths to seeking and maintaining the health of one’s body and soul, without excluding the factor of faith as a core principle.
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction Catalin-Stefan Popa 1 The Contemplative as Spiritual Physician: Medical Theory and Terminology in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus Luke Dysinger 2 Illness, Sainthood, and Spiritual Healing in Early Antique Monasticism Daniel Lemeni 3 Illness of Body and Soul in Greek-Speaking Church Fathers Martin Meiser 4 Survivals of Phoenician and Aramaic Pharmacobotany during Late Antiquity Daniel Asade 5 Zoroastrian Medical Rhetoric in Late Antique Iran Mahnaz Moazami 6 Physician, Spiritual Healer, or Medicine Man? Medical Science according to Bar Bahlūl Stefanie Rudolf 7 Spiritual Therapy of the Heart: Syriac Fathers on a Pure Heart and How to Keep It Free of Disease Catalin-Stefan Popa 8 Disease and Healing according to the Armenian Christian Tradition Jesse Siragan Arlen 9 Soul and Body: Diseases, Remedies and Healing in Georgian Hagiography Gaga Shurgaia 10 Haunted Bodies: Health, Illness and Inner Life in Byzantium Raffaele Guerra 11 Non-Codex Gəʿəz Manuscripts as Forms of Healing Hagos Abrha Abay 12 A Sixteenth Century Hebrew Account of the Epidemic in Naples Nadia Zeldes 13 Medical and Pharmacological Remedies with Qurʾanic Verses in Nineteenth-Century Manuscripts from Timbuktu Ali Diakite and Paul Naylor 14 ‘Let Us Bear Illness with Dignity and Righteousness’ Physical and Spiritual Affliction in the Understanding of the Elders of Optina Eugene Lyutko, Gleb Zapalsky and Vyacheslav Yachmenik Index of Subjects Index of Names Index of Places
