Religion and Spirituality
Twenty-first century medical practice aims to remain separate from religion, but this was not always the case. Religion and medicine were closely intertwined throughout the ancient, medieval and early modern periods. In pre-modern Europe, God was seen as the ultimate source of health and illness, outbreaks of plague were often attributed to divine displeasure, and remedies that made use of religious talismans and prayers frequently appeared in medical texts. Physicians also considered the liturgical calendar when prescribing treatments such as bloodletting. Because the stars could also influence medical procedures, physicians were expected to have a working knowledge of astrology.
While works with spiritual and occult themes seem to not belong in a medical library, the Becker stacks contain several texts dealing with religion, folk beliefs, and mysticism. The heaviest concentration of these live in the Robert E. Schleueter Paracelsus collection, which focuses on the works of the 16th-century iconoclastic physician and alchemist Paracelsus, but there are many other works that touch on spirituality and the supernatural lurking on our shelves.