RHBC 190: Christianity's Impact on Health Care

2. Christianity’s Impact on Health Care

3. I. The Marvelous God who heals
(Exodus 15:26)

4. Yahweh Rophe – “rophe” occurs
about sixty times in the Old
Testament and it always means
“to restore”, “to heal”, or
“to cure”

5. II. The Messiah who heals
(Matt. 8:15-13)

6. III. Biblical Medicines that heal
(Luke 10:34)

7. • Balm - Antibiotic

8. • Medicinal leaves – cures infection

9. • Olive Oil and Wine - Antiseptic

10. • Pressed Figs - Antibiotic

11. • Frankincense – antiseptic and
inflammatory

12. • Myrrh – antiseptic and
inflammatory

13. IV. The Methods of healing

14. A. Good Health

15. B. Priests as Physicians
• Diagnose the disease
• Prescribe treatment
• Preserve possessions
• Sanitize the environment

16. C. Compassionate Care

17. D. Building of Hospitals

18. E. Mental Institutions

19. F. Nursing Care

20. Saint Fabiola

21. Florence
Nightingale

22. Clara Barton

23. Christian Health Care
Units from Mid-4th
to 20th
Century
Health Care Rendered
Morotrophia, built in A.D. 321 Housed mentally disturbed
Nosocomia, first built in 369 by
St. Basil, and in 375, 390, 398
etc.
Housed and nursed the sick
exclusively
Xenodochia, late 4th
century Housed strangers and also
nursed the sick
Monastery at Monte Cassino
founded in 529
Cared for the sick; many
monasteries followed suit; many
also cared for mentally
disturbed
Hospital in Milan, founded by
Dateo, a priest 8th
century
Cared for foundlings only

24. Christian Health Care
Units from Mid-4th
to 20th
Century
Health Care Rendered
Hospitals of Military Religious
Orders: Hospitaler of St. John;
Teutonic Knights, Hospitlaers of
St. Lazarus, 12th
Century
Treated and cared for the
wounded during the crusades
Hospitalers of St. Lazarus, 12th
century
Nursed Lepers
Domus Sancti Spiritus, mostly in
Germany 14th
century
Small hospitals; treated, housed
and nursed civilians; some
housed mentally disturbed
Mental asylums, London 15th
century
Housed and nursed the mentally
disturbed

25. Christian Health Care
Units from Mid-4th
to 20th
Century
Health Care Rendered
Jesus of Nazareth Hospital,
Mexico City, 1524
Nursed mostly Meso-American
Indians
Many general and mental
hospitals combined form 17th
-19th
century
Nursed the physically ill and
mentally disturbed
Units for mentally disturbed
reformed and separated from
general hospitals, late 19th
and
20th
century by Pinel in France
and Dix in America
Freed mental patients from
chains and provided
psychological care
20th
Century – large growth in
hospitals named in honor of
Christians saints, leaders, etc.
Increasingly provided
specialized medical care.

26. “
“Adonai Roph ‘ekha’ the Lord who
heals” came as Christ the Messiah, a
physician to cure the many diseases
sin brought upon His people. By His
words, His wounds, and His shed
blood for the remission of sin. All
who look to Him will be made whole
in body, soul, and spirit…if not in
this life for sure in the life to come”.
—Deron Cobb