BBLs are a series of weekly, informal talks by CHF fellows on their current research, and members of the academic and business communities on topics involving the history of chemistry, political and social issues of importance to chemists and chemical engineers, and issues affecting the future of chemical research.
Andrew Berns, “Biblical Medicine in Renaissance Italy”
During the Renaissance, Italian scholars passionately studied the classical past. To 16th-century Italians the ancient Near East of the Bible was as alluring as ancient Greece or Rome. Physicians were especially interested in the chemical and medicinal culture of the Bible. My presentation will address the use of biblical medicine in this period and ask about the degree to which university-trained doctors believed they could find and prescribe biblical products to alleviate contemporary maladies. The talk considers the symbiosis of biblicism and medicine in Renaissance Italy and poses broad questions about the compatibility of religion and science in early modern Europe.
Andrew Berns is a Ph.D. candidate in the history department at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently completing his dissertation on natural science and biblical studies in late Renaissance Italy. He earned his M.Phil. from Cambridge University in 2004 and his B.A. from Reed College in 2002.
Learn more about CHF's Brown Bag Lecture series.
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