Medicine, Religion and Gender in Medieval Culture
Book Description
This scholarly collection illuminates the profound connections between physical healing, spiritual practice, and gender roles that shaped medieval society. Through carefully researched essays, the work reveals how medical knowledge and religious understanding were deeply intertwined rather than separate domains of human experience.
The contributors examine how medieval cultures understood health, illness, and disability as inseparable from spiritual well-being. They explore the ways religious beliefs influenced medical practices, while medical understanding shaped spiritual approaches to healing and wholeness. Gender perspectives add another crucial dimension, showing how cultural ideas about masculinity and femininity affected both medical treatment and religious expression.
Rather than viewing these as distinct academic subjects, the essays demonstrate their fundamental integration within medieval worldviews. The collection approaches this convergence from multiple angles, analyzing texts, concepts, historical developments, and social structures to paint a comprehensive picture of how people understood the relationship between body and spirit.
For contemporary readers interested in holistic approaches to wellness and spirituality, this work offers valuable insights into how earlier cultures navigated the intersection of physical and spiritual healing. The research reveals enduring questions about gender, health, and religious practice that remain relevant today.
Written by international scholars and edited by Professor Naoë Kukita Yoshikawa, this collection provides a thoughtful examination of how medieval people integrated medical and spiritual wisdom in their daily lives.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Medium (200-400 pages) (~9 hours)
📄 Length: 310 pages
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Medieval Medicine
- ✓ Explore Christianity
- ✓ Explore Religion, history
- ✓ Explore Women in medicine
- ✓ Explore Religious aspects
- ✓ Explore Medieval History
- ✓ Explore Medicine, religious aspects
- ✓ Explore Gender identity
