5 - Concluding observations

Summary

E. R. Dodds' observation, quoted above, on the importance for early Christian apologists of miracle and prophecy, is both accurate and important for the historical analysis of this period. It has a direct hearing on the relationships among the three sets of phenomena with which we are concerned in this study: medicine, miracle, and magic. All three are modes of achieving or sustaining human welfare. All manifest methods for dealing with the universal problems of human suffering and death, and by extension with the problem of evil. Each assumes the existence and operation of some system of order which can be perceived, understood and exploited in order to attain a maximum of benefit for those who have the wisdom to utilize these resources. Yet the assumptions on which each system operates are significant different.

Medicine builds on the foundation of natural order. The goal of the physician is to discern the patterns of the natural functioning of the human body, by direct observation where possible, by analogy from the organisms which can be studied at first hand, and by inference from the philosophical principles of cosmic order which experience and reason have led him to adopt as normative. The study of the environment – topography, weather, flora, fauna – provides the physician with the means for aiding the healthy function of the human organism or for avoiding those factors which are injurious to health.