No doubt we are guilty of that in our reading, However, there is also no doubt that the the sanitary regulations in Leviticus and Deuteronomy were made for the benefit of the community given their imperfect understanding of what was going on. They may not have known that dysentery was spread by microorganisms, but knew from experience (or inspiration) to put the latrine away from camp. And I suspect the idea that we as individuals are responsible for the health of the community is something important in public health to keep teaching us. Something that Covid showed many of us fell short of in practice in these individualistic times. As Christians, that is part of our care and love for others that extends beyond our church membership rolls.
Looking forward to the episode, as it is fertile ground to cover as part of our Christian mandate to love our neighbors.
Yes, prideful rebelliousness against public health mandates in the name of freedom and the American way certainly evidenced itself, contrary to more than one of the many ‘laws of love’ in the NT.
Ahhhh…Samuel Shem. That was more or less required reading in medical school back in the day - only you had to find time to read it over a break somewhere.
Some of you know that I’m an anesthesiologist, and I still semi-quote from that book. I remember the interns talked about a hospital bed at “orthopedic height” - that meant that if the patient fell out of bed, he’d break a hip, or something. Then there was a bed at “neurosurgical height” - where if the patient fell out, he’d fracture his skull. I’m 6’5”, so sometimes when I need to do something procedurally for a patient, I’ll say that I need to raise the bed/OR table to “Garrison height” - if the patient fell from there, Lord knows what damage might happen.
As @jpm says, it’s kinda dark humor.
What is “shrink height”? Although colloquially at least it’s a chaise.
Sandra Richter is an OT scholar who has worked in Deuteronomy and she relates Mosaic law to ecology and things like animal husbandry and ethical farming. I don’t know if she has written on public health per se, but if you looked her up, you might get some leads.
The ancient Hebrew way of dealing with an epidemic was to hold a bronze snake up on a pole and have every one look at it. We’ve made some advances.
True, though some think the story may have changed a bit in the telling, and the fiery serpents may have been guinea worms and the staff showing how to wind the worm to aid in its removal. (Opposed of course by the anti-staff conspiracy theorists). Dracunculiasis - Wikipedia
Huh, the image does let you imagine that the caduceus could be a metaphor.
Thanks for the info on Sandra Richter and also public health in general. Do you have a particular title of hers which you recommend? I can google for myself of course. Will also be interested in this braodcast by Biologos…I believe that I once read that one of five of those among Jesus’ listeners (1st cent CE) were malnourished or very ill.
Not that relates to this particular topic. I just know she studies how the covenant related to things we would consider ecological, agricultural, and health concerns.
Thanks…in looking online, she seems to have a variety of books available. I love reading the reviews on Amazon (good and bad)!!
Whilst we’re on the subject, anyone reading any interesting books atm?
Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine …OK, not very biblical. But it’s a place and historical moment that is (in many ways) still in the news!! (or again in the news)…and just finished Mesopotamia: Invention of the City—which is a nice summation of data about a number of cities that appear in the biblical text, plus some others. Great description of what the actual ancient city of Babylon looked like. If you are interested in OT history, or “life and times” sorts of info, this one is great. …And am working my way through a commentary on the biblical book of Job. It’s three volumes and may take me forever.
I’ve just finished blood and iron: The rise and fall of the German empire by Katja Hoyer, and have just started re-reading Endless forms most beautiful by Sean Carroll
I have seen good reviews of the book by Hoyer. Some day I likely will read it (so many good books out there!). Let us know something important that you learned from it.
Easy. Nicolo Machiavelli had nothing on Otto von Bismarck
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