Religio Medici

''Religio Medici'' (''The Religion of a Doctor'') by Sir Thomas Browne is a spiritual testament and early psychological self-portrait. Browne mulls over the relation between his medical profession and his Christian faith. Published in 1643 after an unauthorised version was distributed the previous year, it became a European best-seller which brought its author fame at home and abroad. It likely contains the first known English language reference to Zoroastrianism. It was translated into Latin, French, German, Dutch and Italian and was reprinted about eight times during the author's life-time. It speaks on the themes of the religion of a doctor arguing that doctors are not atheists and that religion is not incompatible with science.

Themes

Religion

Structured upon the Christian virtues of Faith and Hope (part 1) and Charity (part 2), Browne expresses his beliefs in the doctrine of '' sola fide'', the existence of hell, the '' Last Judgment'', the resurrection and other tenets of Christianity.

Science and religion

Throughout ''Religio Medici'' Browne uses scientific imagery to illustrate religious truths as part of his discussion on the relationship of science to religion.

Reception and influence

A rare surviving contemporary review by Guy Patin, a distinguished member of the Parisian medical faculty, indicates the considerable impact ''Religio Medici'' had upon the intelligentsia abroad:

Throughout the seventeenth century ''Religio Medici'' spawned numerous imitative titles, including John Dryden's great poem, Religio Laici, but none matched the frank, intimate tone of the original in which Browne shares his thoughts, as well as the idiosyncrasies of his personality with his reader.

Samuel Pepys in his Diary transcribed William Petty's opinion that the ''Religio'' was "cried up to the whole world for its wit and learning" but "the wit lie in confirming some pretty sayings, which are generally like paradoxes, by some argument smartly and pleasantly argued"''.''

A translation into German of the ''Religio'' was made in 1746 and an early admirer of Browne's spiritual testament was Goethe's one-time associate Lavater.

In the early nineteenth century ''Religio Medici'' was "re-discovered" by the English Romantics. Charles Lamb introduced it to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who after reading it, exclaimed,-

''O to write a character of this man!''

Thomas de Quincey in his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' also praised it, stating:

The book strongly influenced the prominent physician William Osler in his early years. Osler, who is considered the "father of modern medicine", is said to have learned it by heart.

In Virginia Woolf's opinion ''Religio Medici'' paved the way for all future confessionals, private memoirs and personal writings.

In the twentieth century, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung used the term ''Religio Medici'' several times in his writings.Collected Works Volume 10 : 727 Collected Works Volume 13:161, Collected Works 18:1465

Literary allusions

Dorothy L. Sayers in her novel '' Gaudy Night'' has Harriet Vane discover that Peter Wimsey is reading ''Religio Medici''. It helps her better understand his character and motivations.

Patricia Highsmith's novel '' Strangers on a Train'' references a Morocco-bound copy of the work, and Guy reflects on his favorite passages.

In '' Excellent Women'' by Barbara Pym, the sad, spinsterish church-lady Mildred Lathbury has a copy on her bedside table.

Carl Sagan in his novel '' Contact_(novel)'': there is an epigraph taken from ''Religio'' I, 8 at the start of Chapter 7: "The Ethanol in W-3." "That heresies should arise..." seems to allude to the creation of millenarian sects that arise after hearing a message from space.

References

Sources

*
*

External links

''Text of Religio Medici''
(1643 edition, 1645 edition)
A ''Religio Medici'' bibliography (1905)
* {{librivox book , title=Religio Medici, author=Browne

1643 books
Ethics books
British non-fiction literature
Works by Thomas Browne
Books about Christianity
Religious philosophical literature