
Contents
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I. Introduction: Asceticism, Expertise, and the Medical Art I. Introduction: Asceticism, Expertise, and the Medical Art
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II. Rules of the Game II. Rules of the Game
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Elitism Elitism
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Unseen Choices Unseen Choices
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III. Scope of Practice III. Scope of Practice
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Asceticism as Craft Asceticism as Craft
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The Picture of Health The Picture of Health
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IV. Character Counts IV. Character Counts
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The Confessional Encounter The Confessional Encounter
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The Spiritual Physician The Spiritual Physician
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Skills Skills
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Manners Manners
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V. A Contest of Experts V. A Contest of Experts
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Etiologies Etiologies
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Diagnosis Diagnosis
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Different Experts Different Experts
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VI. Conclusions VI. Conclusions
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7 Basil of Caesarea on the Spiritual Physician and His Galenic Competitor
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Published:October 2022
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Abstract
This chapter uses Basil of Caesarea as interlocutor for a study of ascetic Christian ambivalence toward medicine. Authors from Origen to Diadochos of Photice differentiated between those who “use” medical healing and those who, out of faith or virtuosity, refuse it. In some stories, like Theodoret of Cyrus’ Religious History or the Apophthegmata Patrum, miraculous healings take place when professional physicians have failed. Basil of Caesarea offers a unique insight into the reason for using or refusing medicine, and the limits of its capacity, in his Fifty-Fifth Long Response in what is generally called his Asceticon. Basil argues that medicine is a divinely ordained art, built into creation prior to the damage of Adam’s fall and a means of God’s desire that humans assist each other. However, he also argues that not every disease requires or can even be helped by medical means. Those that arise from natural causes, which include morally condemnable modes of living, can be aided by medicine, though not always. Others are sent by God for moral correction or discipline, others by the devil out of malice, and some just to remind the very holy that they are still human. Medicine can do nothing for these, because their etiology lies outside its realm of expertise. The spiritual director, however, is tasked with differentiating these kinds of illness and recommending therapies accordingly. Thus, Basil presents the spiritual director as a greater expert than their medical counterpart, but in the same area of expertise.
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