Medicine and the Reformation

Submitted by

Elizabeth Ping

Submitted to the Department of History

January 2, 2011
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Medicine evolved during the Reformation and was greatly influenced by religious

philosophy. By using the medical discipline as an integral part in supporting and justifying

Protestant theology, medicine altered in the way physicians received their training and in the way

physicians chose to practice. The interplay of religion and medicine allowed different views of

the world to take form which were largely shaped by Marten Luther and his acquaintances.

Particularly, the Reformation increased interest in charity for the poor and better treatment for

those suffering from disease; and increased acceptance of human dissection for gaining insight

into the human body and its connection with the soul; and the view that the physician is an

extension of God’s love for others.

Healthcare

A burgeoning interest in healthcare came as a result of charity for the poor. Luther and

his friend, Johannes Bugenhagen promoted poor relief.1 Bugenhagan divided the church money

into two categories which devoted one chest to the poor. This was unlike Catholicism which

spent much of its money on trying to reach salvation and allowed donors to give money for the

poor without fear of the church using the money on self-interests.2 Also, Bugenhagen ensured

that funding never became depleted in case of unforeseen emergencies such as an increase in the

number who contract the plague or an unexpected birth.

Bugenhagen implemented health reforms centering on baptism, midwifery, nursing, and

hospitals. He argued that midwives should be regulated, qualified, and honest.3 For one of the

first times in history, midwives became licensed and citizens began to expect births to be

1
Peter Elmer, The healing arts: health, disease, and society in Europe, 1500-1800
(United Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2004), 101.
2
Ibid., 102.
3
Ibid., 103.
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attended by honorable and competent midwives. Hospitals were constructed outside of cities and

staffed with nurses to treat plague victims. Furthermore, the number of hospitals for syphilis or

the pox increased as concern for the spread of the disease took hold. Church officials advised

those suffering from the illness to be treated and for those who want to donate their money, to

view effects of the illness first hand by visiting one of the hospitals. By Bugenhagen’s promotion

of public health concerns, the medical community gained the necessary funding, support, and

personnel to treat the diseases of the day.

Rational Thought

The study of anatomy and physiology gained more acceptance as anatomical dissection became

to be viewed as a religious endeavor that could reveal the mysteries of God’s works.4 By the late

sixteenth century, Protestantism emphasized anatomical instruction and began to differ from

traditional, Catholic medical education which did not place emphasis and anatomy and

dissections to such an extent.5 The adoption of anatomy back into medical training came as an

indirect result of Luther who championed reason as the endowment that gave humans “power,

virtue, knowledge, and glory.”6 Reason to Luther, set humans apart from beasts and was seen as

an extension of God for producing good. This belief allowed for the approval of liberal education

otherwise viewed as pagan.7 Likewise, Protestantism directed the search for medical rationale in

medical treatments since previously pilgrimages to holy sites became discouraged. Realizing that

it would be difficult to limit the public from visiting the holy sites for their healing properties,

natural explanations were sought as to why some places appeared to cure ailments. Luther

4
Ibid., 87.
5
Jurgen Helm and Annette Winkelmann, Religious confessions and the sciences in the
sixteenth century (Netherlands, Brill, 2001), 64.
6
Marty Martin, Martin Luther: A life (New York: NY, Penguin Books, 2004), 8.
7
Ibid., 7.
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argued that God gave man the ability to think so that man could use tools such as medicine in

order to have healthy, productive lives. In the same way that God gave man the ability to make

clothes, to be used as protection against the elements, God gave man the ability to make

medicine to be used for healing.

An acquaintance of Luther, Philip Melanchthon, based his medical school curriculum at

Wittenberg University on the exploration of dissected bodies - a practice that was not usually

socially acceptable. Melanchthon felt that the study of anatomy and physiology was beneficial to

all Christians who desired to affirm God’s existence and not just those aspiring to become

physicians.8 Anatomical observations could then be viewed as a nutrix or provider of virtue that

allows man to view the human body as an identity that was intentionally and not accidentally

composed by a higher being.

Melanchthon furthermore attempted to define the nature of the human soul by studying

the different organs that comprise an individual.9 He believed that anatomy could illuminate the

workings of the soul and that a better understanding of the soul could therefore be reached. He

described in his book, Commentarius de Anima, that the soul is divided into different parts.10

This tripartition of the soul based on anatomical studies, placed reason in the brain, affections in

the heart, and instincts in the liver. Melanchthon used his thoughts on the soul to describe that

before the fall of man, humans the soul existed in harmony but that the fall caused the soul’s

affects to wander around the other parts of the soul since the knowledge of God had been tainted.

He argued that the parts of the soul could be reunited and strengthened by learning about God

because affections would be renewed and God’s spirit would be produced. Thus by interpreting

8
Jurgen Helm and Annette Winkelmann, 57.
9
Ibid., 58.
10
Ibid., 59.
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the body and the relationship between organ systems, Melanchthon integrated religion and

medical sciences in a way that would have lasting influences.

Physicians

Luther became influential in changing how the public viewed physicians by emphasizing

that most diseases could be traced to natural explanations and were not always caused by black

magic and Satan. He promoted medicine by advocating that physicians should be used whenever

possible to treat a disease and that God would reveal medical information the physicians who

sought for answers. Physicians were, in this way, similar to ministers who could heal the heart

and soul and act as extensions of God’s will. Specifically, Luther recommended the use of

apothecaries, barbers, physicians, and nurses to cure physical ailments when he ministered to the

sick.11 He also recommended fumigation for homes contaminated with the plague and avoidance

of unnecessary travel and exposure to different places. During the plague, Luther also suggested

that neighbors help each other and provide sympathetic support to the sick and to the mourning.

The period of the Reformation had lasting effects on the training of physicians and practice

of medicine. Interest in healthcare and charity for the poor increased, creating a demand for qualified

individuals who could assist in treating the sick. Dissections of human specimens became more

acceptable since it was seen as beneficial to gain an understanding of the body’s physiology in order

to understand how to keep the soul free from sin and corruption. In turn, early anatomist imparted

greater knowledge of human physiology, and disease became perceived as a more natural state of

existence that could and should be cured with medicine. The use of physicians became endowed as

Luther proclaimed that they should be used in conjunction with spiritual guidance to cure the sick

Martin Luther and Theodore Tappert, Luther: Letters of spiritual counsel (Philadelphia:
11

PA, Westminster Press, 2003), 17.

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allowing. The Reformation in this perspective can ultimately be seen as an advancement of medicine

through a desire to understand and uphold religious doctrine.

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Bibliography

Elmer, Peter. The healing arts: health, disease, and society in Europe, 1500-1800. United

Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2004.

Helm, Jurgen and Annette Winkelmann. Religious confessions and the sciences in the sixteenth

Century. Netherlands, Brill, 2001.

Luther Martin and Theodore Tappert, Luther: Letters of spiritual counsel. Philadelphia: PA,

Westminster Press, 2003.

Martin, Marty. Martin Luther: A life. New York: NY, Penguin Books, 2004.
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