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Western Christianity's two historical treatments of people with disabilities or mental illness
The Social Science Journal 42 (2005) 107–114
Western Christianity’s two historical treatments of people with disabilities or mental illness Herbert C. Covey∗ College of Continuing Education, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1030 W 15th Ave, CO 80020, USA
Abstract Christianity had two traditions of interpreting people with disabilities. The older tradition viewed disability as the result of sin. This tradition punished, separated, and restricted people with disabilities. It barred them from full participation in the Church and its rituals. However, as Christianity developed, a second tradition emerged that saw people with disabilities as needing compassion and that God accepted everyone. The second tradition saw people with disabilities as representing opportunities for the faithful to do charitable works. Christianity led the movement to provide assistance to people with disabilities until government later began to supplant its efforts. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Numerous factors have shaped the history of attitudes towards disabilities, such as the rise of Christianity. The growth of Western Christianity, hereafter referred to as Christianity, gave rise to a more humane interest in the plight of common people, including those with disabilities. Christianity taught that compassion towards others was important and human life was sacred. However, at times, Christianity responded with cruelty and intolerance toward anyone who was different, including people with disabilities. The Bible makes many references to people with disabilities. For instance, the term blind is found in the Old Testament books of Exodus 4: 11–12; Leviticus 19: 14; 21: 18; 22: 22; Deuteronomy 15: 21; 16: 19; 27: 18; 28: 29; Ecclesiastes II 7–8; Job 29: 15; Psalms 146: 8; Isaiah 29: 18; 35: 5; 42: 7; 42: 16–19; 43: 8; 56: 10; 59: 10; Jeremiah 31: 8; Lamentations 4: 14; Zephaniah 1: 17; Malachi 1: 8; M’r 8: 22–23; 10: 46–49; and 10: 51. New Testament references to blindness include Acts 13: 11; Ephesians 4: 18; John 5: 3; 9: 1–2; 9: 6–8; 9: 13; 9: 17–20; 9: 24–25; 9: 32; 9: 39–41; 10: 21; 11: 87; Luke 4: 18; 6: 39; 7: 21–22; 14: 13; 14: ∗ Tel.: +1 303 466 6813. E-mail address: [email protected].
0362-3319/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2004.11.009
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21; 18: 35; Matthew 9: 27–28; 11: 5; 12: 22; 15: 14; 15: 30–31; 20: 30; 21: 14; 23: 16–17; 23: 24–26; Peter 1: 9; and Revelation 3: 19 Romans 2: 19; and 11: 25. Mental illness also was widely recognized in the Old Testament. The Old Testament books of Deuteronomy 28: 15–28; 28: 34; Ecclesiastes 1: 17; 2: 2; 2: 12; 7: 7; 7: 25; 9: 3; 10: 3; Hosea 9: 7; Isaiah 44: 25; 2 Jeremiah 25: 16; 29: 26; 48: 25; 51: 7; Kings 9: 11; 2; Psalms 102; Proverbs 26: 18; Samuel 21: 13–15; and Zechariah 12: 4 refer to mental illness. Madness is one of the afflictions named in Deuteronomy as sent by God (28: 21–28). Other examples of madness in the Old Testament include David in Samuel 21: 13–15, who broke from Saul after Saul tried to kill him, fled south into Judea and pretended to be insane while among the Philistines. His madness was depicted by his babbling, wearing disarranged clothes, and drooling. In Deuteronomy 28: 15–28, Moses warned his people that if they “. . . will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes . . . The Lord will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind.” One of the most famous Old Testament stories of mental illness is the story of Nebuchadnezzar. According to the Old Testament, the ancient King Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 b.c.) was reduced to madness, which contemporary scholars have classified as lycanthropy (delusion one is a wolf). The prophet David foretold that King Nebuchadnezzar would be banished from society, live with the beasts, and graze like an ox (Daniel 4: 32). The New Testament also provides references to madness. The books of Luke 6: 11, 8: 26–29; Mark 5: 1–20; Matthew 8: 28; Acts 12: 15; 26: 11; 26: 24–25; 1 Colossians 14: 23; Peter 2: 161, and John 10: 20 refer to madness. Several passages in the Old Testament refer to physical disabilities, including 2 Kings 13: 4 references to paralysis. The second book of Samuel 21: 20 refers to Goliath as being of exceptionally large stature. Chronicles 20: 6 describes acromegaly and supernumerary digits. Genesis 308: 27 refers to uniovular twins. The book of Acts 14: 8 refers to a “cripple from his mother’s womb.” The term lame is used in several books, such as Leviticus 21: 18; Deuteronomy 15: 21; 2 Samuel 4: 4; 5: 6–8; 9: 3; 9: 13; 19: 26; Job 29: 15; Proverbs 26: 7; Isaiah 33: 23; 35: 6; Jeremiah 31: 8; Malachi 1: 8; 1: 13; Acts 3: 2; 3: 11; 8: 7; and Hebrews 12: 13. The New Testament also mentions physical disabilities in Matthew 11: 5; 15: 30–31; 21: 14; and Luke 7: 22; and 14: 13. Biblical references to people who were deaf are made in the Old Testament Books of Exodus 4: 2; Leviticus 19: 14; Psalms 38: 13; 58: 4; Isaiah 29: 18; 35: 5; 42: 18–19; 43: 8; and Micah 7: 16. For example, Exodus 4: 2 states, “Who hath man man’s mouth? or who maketh man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I the Lord?” This passage is one of the first known formal references to people who were deaf in western society. The New Testament books of Matthew 11: 5; Mark 7: 32; 7: 37; 9: 25; and Luke 7: 22 also refer to deafness.
1. Christianity’s treatment of disability and mental illness as evidence of sin One Christian tradition views people with disabilities as sinners or the offspring of parents who sinned. The prevailing view for much of history has been that illness was divinely ordained as punishment for sin. Transgressions against God’s resulted in the sinner being exposed to disease and disability. The Old Testament attributed blindness to the power of God. In Exodus
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(4: 12), God proclaims to Moses, “Who makes [man] clear-sighted or blind? It is not I, the Lord? A major source of sin was disbelief in God. The Old Testament referenced blindness as in being blind to God or having a lack of understanding or faith. For example, Deuteronomy 28: 28 reads, “The Lord will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and astonishment of heart.” Deuteronomy (28: 65) and Leviticus (26: 16) treat blindness this way. In the books of Job (11: 20), Proverbs (30: 17), Zephaniah (1: 17) blindness and blinding are treated as a chastisement from God. The belief that God inflicted disability as a retribution for the sins of people lasted for centuries. For example, 17th century the New England Puritans believed in divine retribution and assumed that physical disabilities were retribution from God for sinful behavior. When Puritan authorities provided accounts of births of infants with deformities or disabilities, they described such occurrences as monstrous retributions from God. For instance, Governor Winthrop reported on a “monstrous birth,” of an infant with two mouths (probably an infant who was an encephalic with open myelomeningocele (Groce, 1985, p. 122). The Puritans Increase Mather (1984) and his son Cotton provided several examples of children born with disabilities that were the result of God’s divine retribution (displeasure). In a vein similar to divine retribution, many Christians believed in the concept of marking. Marking was the belief that what a mother does or fails to do during pregnancy marks the fetus within her. Mothers marked their infants by the prenatal actions. Although marking was often secular in tone, it sometimes carried strong moral and religious connotations. Hand (1980, p. 60) observed, “Crippling of children at birth and other forms of disfigurement are thought of as having been brought on by divine displeasure.” Early Christians believed that children with disabilities were marked by God because of the sins of their parents. Christians have believed that offspring paid the price for their parent’s indiscretions and sinful behavior. Regarding mental illness, initially Christianity was relatively tolerant of people who were mentally ill. Early Christianity considered all people creations of God. As the Middle Ages unfolded, society became less tolerant and increasingly saw mental illness as evidence of evil. Societies increasingly blamed people who were mentally ill and Christianity provided a visible and convenient rationale for damming people. Christianity defined madness in moral terms and medieval Christians saw madness as a struggle between Satan and God for possession of the soul. Demonic possession was a spiritual illness and people thought that madness was God’s punishment of sinners. Following this first tradition, Christianity was instrumental in applying or supporting societal restrictions on people with disabilities. Christian officials were frequently involved in the diagnosis of mental illness (sometimes mental illness), epilepsy, leprosy, and other disabilities or diseases that resulted in disabilities. Beyond diagnosis, Christianity punished, separated, and excluded them from society and Christian activities. For example, Christianity restricted the rights of people with disabilities to be buried on Church grounds, become married, and become priests or monks. The Old Testament identifies restrictions. For example, the Book of II Samuel 5: 8, comments, “No blind or lame man shall come into the Lord’s house.” Christianity’s teachings, perceptions, and treatment of people who were deaf and or speechless are revealing. For example, a central theme in the Christian tradition has been the role of speech in the creation of humans. Saint-Loup (1993) found that within this tradition, when God created Adam, he blew his spirit into him through divine breath or symbolically the
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gift of speech. Only humans have the gift of speech, which separates them from other animals. Saint-Loup noted that there were other links between speech and hearing in the Christian tradition. For example, Christians believed that the Immaculate Conception occurred via God’s word to Mary’s ear. Many early Christians believed Christianity held out no hope for people who were deaf. The influential scholar Aristotle had forwarded the misconception that symbols had to be auditory for understanding. If hearing was absent, he argued learning was impossible. This basic assumption would have lasting impact on people who were deaf than any other idea in the following centuries. For example, Saint Augustine (354–430 a.d.) believed that Christianity could only comfort people who were deaf, as they had no way to learn about God and acquire faith. Saint Augustine thought that deaf people were not endowed with knowledge and believed that no attempts be made to educate them, as they could not learn. Saint Augustine thought that faith was not possible because they could not learn faith without spoken language. Scholars credit him for the cannon law that excluded them from the privilege of Mass. However, scholars believe that he was misinterpreted. According to Deland (1968, p. 6), “This law prevailed during the middle ages, because it was considered necessary that the words of the Consecration of the Eucharist be pronounced in order that the transubstantiation be affected, but St. Augustine had nothing to do with it.” Some early Christians, such as the 5th century Saint Jerome, held that people who were deaf could understand by using signs (Saint-Loup, 1993). During the medieval period, people who were deaf, with a few exceptions, were not allowed to confess their sins. They were generally classified with people having developmental disabilities and those judged to be insane. As Christianity developed, gradually opportunities for increased participation by people who were deaf increased. Saint-Loup (1993) summarized they were able to be baptized in the 5th century, married in the 11th, give penance in the 13th, and take monastic vows in the 16th centuries. 1.1. The association with demons/witches Some Christians also endorsed punishing or executing people who had disabilities or were physically deformed. For example, Christians sometimes encouraged the execution of children with deformities or disabilities when they viewed them as products of witchcraft. Likewise, Christians also condoned the punishment or execution of suspected witches when the assumption was they had caused deformities in infants. Some Christian authorities interpreted the birth of children with congenital deformities as a sign of demonic intervention. During the Inquisition, this belief resulted in the execution of people with disabilities and/or their parents. Protestant reformers and Catholics alike viewed mental retardation as a form of satanic influence and tortured, exorcised, or killed infants. Christianity associated magic, sorcery, enchantments, spells, charms, evil spirits, and witchcraft with disease and disability. For example, medieval theologians concluded that incubi and succubae existed and had carnal relations with sleeping persons. This belief became undisputed dogma and served as a ready explanation for infants having disabilities or deformities, as they were seen as the products of such sexual encounters. During the Middle Ages, Christians saw those who were mentally ill as being possessed by demons and evil spirits. During the Renaissance, Christian officials believed that demonic
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possession as treatable. The principle task of Christian or secular practitioner was to find a way to drive the demons and evil spirits from the person’s body. Biblical passages, such as Luke 8: 26–29 and Mark 5: 1–20, supported this social perception of demonic possession. Following the Middle Ages, society became increasingly intolerant of mental illness and mental disorders. In early modern England, people viewed mental illness as frightening, mysterious, disturbing, and seen as a threat to the social order. Grob (1994: 8) wrote, “Madness in early modern England was a term that conjured up supernatural, religious, astrological, scientific, and medical elements.” In the past, people integrated those who were mentally ill into their communities and families. This would change and by the latter 17th century, as the family became less important in handling people with mental illness. The 16th and the 17th centuries were also periods when witch-hunting reached its peak. Witches were thought to cause victims to have “fits.” These fits were thought to be hysterical possessions by the devil. The idea of possession by a demon was an old notion that people used to explain mental illness and in some cases epilepsy. Given the general historical context of medicine from 1500 to 1700, any disease might be attributed to the workings of spirits or witchcraft, but certain outstanding groups, such as diseases of the nervous system, apoplexy, paralysis (partial and general), epilepsy, and hysteria, were specially attributed to witchcraft. For instance, William Drage’s Daimonomageia (1665) elaborates extensively about the role of witchcraft in promoting disease. Accusations of witchcraft were common in 17th century England and New England. It was also a time that many religious leaders commented on possession and mental illness. For example, the American religious leader Cotton Mather in the late 17th century argued that Satan tempted peoples’ moral weaknesses into madness. However, not everyone subscribed to demonic and witch-based causes of disability and disease. Henry Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), Paracelsus (1490–1541), Johann Weyer (1515–1588), and Reginald Scot (1538–1599) among others boldly challenged these demonic and witchcraft explanations for disease and disability. The Swiss physician Paracelsus proclaimed mental diseases had nothing to do with evil spirits or demons, and that one should not study exorcism to cure the insane. It should be noted that Christianity occasionally interpreted mental illness in a positive vein, as reflective of one’s extreme believe in or connection with God. For example, there was a belief that some people who were mentally ill held powers similar to saints, such as talking in tongues or predicting the future. This belief stretches across the centuries and sometimes linked to the conversion process of becoming a Christian. Saint Augustine’s (354–430) influential Confessions and the later Puritan John Bunyan’s (1628–1688) Grace Abounding (1666) describe madness as a conversion process. 2. Christianity’s treatment of people with disabilities or mental illness with compassion and care The second Christian tradition was based on compassion and understanding. According to the second tradition, people with disabilities were innocent victims of misfortune. Christianity’s role was to be the protector and benefactor for the downtrodden and disadvantaged. Christianity influenced society in a very humane way, such as helping to eliminate the practice of infanticide practiced by the Greeks and Romans.
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In addition to a more humane view of disability, the Old Testament noted that God had the power to eliminate disabilities, such as restoring sight. For example, disabilities and blindness were eliminated during the Exodus so that revelation on Mount Sinai could be provided to healthy people. When the biblical Isaac was born, all people who were blind regained their sight. One of the most famous stories of God’s restoration of sight was the ancient Hebrew story of Tobit from the Book of the Apocrypha (7: 7). Tobit following traditional cultural thought it was better to be dead than be blind. Tobit’s failing eyesight symbolized the loss of faith of the Hebrew people occurring in Tobit’s time. As he becomes blind, Tobit turns inward and reflective which leads to his spiritual enlightenment and eventual regaining of sight. One of the most significant changes between the Old and New Testaments was the role Christ plays in healing people with the disease or disabilities. Accounts of Christ healing individuals are found in the New Testament books such as Matthew 8: 2–4 and Luke 17: 13–17. They were popular theme by the Middle Ages and later centuries. The role of Jesus as physician-healer in the New Testament resulted in an emphasis on the treatment and care of people. The New Testament books of Mark 10: 46–52 and Luke, 18: 35–43 portray Jesus as having great compassion for blind and disabled people. Jesus expresses his empathy toward them in several sections, such as Mark 8: 22–25, and Matthew 9: 27–29 and 20: 30–34. He does not just care for people but cures them. In John 9: 1–41 Jesus encounters a man who is birth and restores his eyesight. Jesus indicates that his coming changes the moral interpretation of sight versus not seeing (John, 9: 39). In this passage, Jesus introduces the perspective that blindness is not punishment for sin. The Book of Matthew (20: 29–34) tells of a similar event of Christ simply touching the eyes to cure blindness. With the New Testament, it became possible to treat people with compassion. Under the encouragement and auspices of Christianity, people more frequently performed acts of charity and showed compassion toward people with disabilities. Evidence indicates that hospitals and asylums were built for the sick and destitute, including people with developmental disabilities. For instance in the 4th century, Saint Nicholas of Thaumaturgos the Bishop of Myra provided care to people with developmental disabilities. Historians have described the bishop as a protector of the “feeble-minded.” He also was described as caring for all children and the poor and his name would eventually become Santa Claus or Saint Nick. 2.1. Christianity as provider of care In line with the teachings of the New Testament, Christianity frequently helped and attempted to care or cure people with disabilities. The primary responsibility for caring for people had generally rested with family and friends and to some degree with the community. Before and during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Christianity became a care provider and was instrumental in establishing several hospitals and asylums. For example, beginning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, Christian authorities opened hospices to serve people who were blind. In 370, St. Basil the Bishop of Caesarea founded an asylum for people who were blind, poor, and in need. During the 5th century, St. Lymnaeus provided care to people who were blind in Syria. St. Herve (d. 565) found a monastery in Brittany that provided care. In the 7th century, Saint Benard (Bishop of Le Mans) established an institution for the blind in France. In Smithfield
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England, St. Bartholomew admitted people who were deaf, blind, and otherwise disabled. Later in the 7th century, St. Bertrand, the Bishop of Le Mans established an asylum in Pontlieu. By the 16th century, Christianity’s provider role would change dramatically. A series of clashes and wars between Christianity and the state over power and control dramatically changed the provision of care. Christianity lost much of its control and authority to the state. This struggle for control resulted in a reduction of funds available to care for the poor and consequently Christian sponsorship of facilities declined and people developed a greater sense of unworthiness of those seeking charity, such as those with severe disabilities. The state, due to centralization, was in a better position to maintain the social order and control people. For example, in England the Tudors actively supplanted Christian with secular power and consolidated their resources. With the gain in power, the Tudors were able to respond to the threat from growing populations of vagrants by institutionalizing people in houses and facilities, such as Bridewell, which was established in London in 1555. Present during the 16th and 17th centuries there was a sense that the public had a responsibility for the care and treatment of people who were mentally ill. In colonial 17th century America, the common view was that, society had a responsibility to care for the poor and dependent. Christian officials and women, rather than physicians, often treated sick individuals. As the age unfolded, society increasingly turned to confinement to address the needs of society and the individual. In Europe societies increasingly turned to confinement to manage people who were mentally ill. The French historian Foucault (1965) referred to this as the “Great Confinement.” By the close of the 17th century, the foundation for a more natural based view of people with mental illness had been laid. Spiritual and supernatural explanations for mental illness increasingly lost ground to natural and scientific based approaches. Rather than seeing people as sinners, people viewed those who were mentally ill as animals. The centuries, along with the 18th, brought about the image of the mentally ill as sub-human beasts. Medicine would supplant supernatural explanations and cures by the mid-18th century. An emphasis on rationality would be the rule. Towards the end of the 18th century Christianity’s influence over society further declined. Modern science and medicine began to undercut its role as healer of the body and mind. Trained doctors and nurses replaced priests and nuns as care providers.
References Augustine, S. (1993). In C. Gilliam (Ed.), The confessions. New York Cambridge University Press. Deland, F. (1968). The story of lip-reading: Its genesis and development. Washington, DC: The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc. Drage, W. (1965). Daimonomageia. London: J. Dover. Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason. New York: Random House. Grob, G. N. (1994). The mad among us: A history of the care of America’s mentally ill. New York: The Free Press. Groce, N. E. (1985). Everyone here spoke sign language: Hereditary deafness on Martha’s vineyard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hand, W. D. (1980). Magical medicine: The folkloric component of medicine in the folk belief, custom, and ritual of the peoples of Europe and America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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John Bunyan, J. (1666). Grace abounding to the chief of sinners. London: George Larkin. Mather, I. (1984). An essay for the recording of illustrious providences: Wherein, an account is given of many remarkable and very memorable events, which have happened in this last age; especially in New England. Boston: Samuel Green. Saint-Loup, A. (1993). Images of the deaf in medieval western Europe. In R. Fischer & H. Lane (Eds.), Looking back: A reader on the history of deaf communities and their sign languages. Hamburg, Germany: Signum.
Western Christianity’s two historical treatments of people with disabilities or mental illness Herbert C. Covey∗ College of Continuing Education, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1030 W 15th Ave, CO 80020, USA
Abstract Christianity had two traditions of interpreting people with disabilities. The older tradition viewed disability as the result of sin. This tradition punished, separated, and restricted people with disabilities. It barred them from full participation in the Church and its rituals. However, as Christianity developed, a second tradition emerged that saw people with disabilities as needing compassion and that God accepted everyone. The second tradition saw people with disabilities as representing opportunities for the faithful to do charitable works. Christianity led the movement to provide assistance to people with disabilities until government later began to supplant its efforts. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Numerous factors have shaped the history of attitudes towards disabilities, such as the rise of Christianity. The growth of Western Christianity, hereafter referred to as Christianity, gave rise to a more humane interest in the plight of common people, including those with disabilities. Christianity taught that compassion towards others was important and human life was sacred. However, at times, Christianity responded with cruelty and intolerance toward anyone who was different, including people with disabilities. The Bible makes many references to people with disabilities. For instance, the term blind is found in the Old Testament books of Exodus 4: 11–12; Leviticus 19: 14; 21: 18; 22: 22; Deuteronomy 15: 21; 16: 19; 27: 18; 28: 29; Ecclesiastes II 7–8; Job 29: 15; Psalms 146: 8; Isaiah 29: 18; 35: 5; 42: 7; 42: 16–19; 43: 8; 56: 10; 59: 10; Jeremiah 31: 8; Lamentations 4: 14; Zephaniah 1: 17; Malachi 1: 8; M’r 8: 22–23; 10: 46–49; and 10: 51. New Testament references to blindness include Acts 13: 11; Ephesians 4: 18; John 5: 3; 9: 1–2; 9: 6–8; 9: 13; 9: 17–20; 9: 24–25; 9: 32; 9: 39–41; 10: 21; 11: 87; Luke 4: 18; 6: 39; 7: 21–22; 14: 13; 14: ∗ Tel.: +1 303 466 6813. E-mail address: [email protected].
0362-3319/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2004.11.009
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21; 18: 35; Matthew 9: 27–28; 11: 5; 12: 22; 15: 14; 15: 30–31; 20: 30; 21: 14; 23: 16–17; 23: 24–26; Peter 1: 9; and Revelation 3: 19 Romans 2: 19; and 11: 25. Mental illness also was widely recognized in the Old Testament. The Old Testament books of Deuteronomy 28: 15–28; 28: 34; Ecclesiastes 1: 17; 2: 2; 2: 12; 7: 7; 7: 25; 9: 3; 10: 3; Hosea 9: 7; Isaiah 44: 25; 2 Jeremiah 25: 16; 29: 26; 48: 25; 51: 7; Kings 9: 11; 2; Psalms 102; Proverbs 26: 18; Samuel 21: 13–15; and Zechariah 12: 4 refer to mental illness. Madness is one of the afflictions named in Deuteronomy as sent by God (28: 21–28). Other examples of madness in the Old Testament include David in Samuel 21: 13–15, who broke from Saul after Saul tried to kill him, fled south into Judea and pretended to be insane while among the Philistines. His madness was depicted by his babbling, wearing disarranged clothes, and drooling. In Deuteronomy 28: 15–28, Moses warned his people that if they “. . . will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes . . . The Lord will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind.” One of the most famous Old Testament stories of mental illness is the story of Nebuchadnezzar. According to the Old Testament, the ancient King Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 b.c.) was reduced to madness, which contemporary scholars have classified as lycanthropy (delusion one is a wolf). The prophet David foretold that King Nebuchadnezzar would be banished from society, live with the beasts, and graze like an ox (Daniel 4: 32). The New Testament also provides references to madness. The books of Luke 6: 11, 8: 26–29; Mark 5: 1–20; Matthew 8: 28; Acts 12: 15; 26: 11; 26: 24–25; 1 Colossians 14: 23; Peter 2: 161, and John 10: 20 refer to madness. Several passages in the Old Testament refer to physical disabilities, including 2 Kings 13: 4 references to paralysis. The second book of Samuel 21: 20 refers to Goliath as being of exceptionally large stature. Chronicles 20: 6 describes acromegaly and supernumerary digits. Genesis 308: 27 refers to uniovular twins. The book of Acts 14: 8 refers to a “cripple from his mother’s womb.” The term lame is used in several books, such as Leviticus 21: 18; Deuteronomy 15: 21; 2 Samuel 4: 4; 5: 6–8; 9: 3; 9: 13; 19: 26; Job 29: 15; Proverbs 26: 7; Isaiah 33: 23; 35: 6; Jeremiah 31: 8; Malachi 1: 8; 1: 13; Acts 3: 2; 3: 11; 8: 7; and Hebrews 12: 13. The New Testament also mentions physical disabilities in Matthew 11: 5; 15: 30–31; 21: 14; and Luke 7: 22; and 14: 13. Biblical references to people who were deaf are made in the Old Testament Books of Exodus 4: 2; Leviticus 19: 14; Psalms 38: 13; 58: 4; Isaiah 29: 18; 35: 5; 42: 18–19; 43: 8; and Micah 7: 16. For example, Exodus 4: 2 states, “Who hath man man’s mouth? or who maketh man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I the Lord?” This passage is one of the first known formal references to people who were deaf in western society. The New Testament books of Matthew 11: 5; Mark 7: 32; 7: 37; 9: 25; and Luke 7: 22 also refer to deafness.
1. Christianity’s treatment of disability and mental illness as evidence of sin One Christian tradition views people with disabilities as sinners or the offspring of parents who sinned. The prevailing view for much of history has been that illness was divinely ordained as punishment for sin. Transgressions against God’s resulted in the sinner being exposed to disease and disability. The Old Testament attributed blindness to the power of God. In Exodus
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(4: 12), God proclaims to Moses, “Who makes [man] clear-sighted or blind? It is not I, the Lord? A major source of sin was disbelief in God. The Old Testament referenced blindness as in being blind to God or having a lack of understanding or faith. For example, Deuteronomy 28: 28 reads, “The Lord will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and astonishment of heart.” Deuteronomy (28: 65) and Leviticus (26: 16) treat blindness this way. In the books of Job (11: 20), Proverbs (30: 17), Zephaniah (1: 17) blindness and blinding are treated as a chastisement from God. The belief that God inflicted disability as a retribution for the sins of people lasted for centuries. For example, 17th century the New England Puritans believed in divine retribution and assumed that physical disabilities were retribution from God for sinful behavior. When Puritan authorities provided accounts of births of infants with deformities or disabilities, they described such occurrences as monstrous retributions from God. For instance, Governor Winthrop reported on a “monstrous birth,” of an infant with two mouths (probably an infant who was an encephalic with open myelomeningocele (Groce, 1985, p. 122). The Puritans Increase Mather (1984) and his son Cotton provided several examples of children born with disabilities that were the result of God’s divine retribution (displeasure). In a vein similar to divine retribution, many Christians believed in the concept of marking. Marking was the belief that what a mother does or fails to do during pregnancy marks the fetus within her. Mothers marked their infants by the prenatal actions. Although marking was often secular in tone, it sometimes carried strong moral and religious connotations. Hand (1980, p. 60) observed, “Crippling of children at birth and other forms of disfigurement are thought of as having been brought on by divine displeasure.” Early Christians believed that children with disabilities were marked by God because of the sins of their parents. Christians have believed that offspring paid the price for their parent’s indiscretions and sinful behavior. Regarding mental illness, initially Christianity was relatively tolerant of people who were mentally ill. Early Christianity considered all people creations of God. As the Middle Ages unfolded, society became less tolerant and increasingly saw mental illness as evidence of evil. Societies increasingly blamed people who were mentally ill and Christianity provided a visible and convenient rationale for damming people. Christianity defined madness in moral terms and medieval Christians saw madness as a struggle between Satan and God for possession of the soul. Demonic possession was a spiritual illness and people thought that madness was God’s punishment of sinners. Following this first tradition, Christianity was instrumental in applying or supporting societal restrictions on people with disabilities. Christian officials were frequently involved in the diagnosis of mental illness (sometimes mental illness), epilepsy, leprosy, and other disabilities or diseases that resulted in disabilities. Beyond diagnosis, Christianity punished, separated, and excluded them from society and Christian activities. For example, Christianity restricted the rights of people with disabilities to be buried on Church grounds, become married, and become priests or monks. The Old Testament identifies restrictions. For example, the Book of II Samuel 5: 8, comments, “No blind or lame man shall come into the Lord’s house.” Christianity’s teachings, perceptions, and treatment of people who were deaf and or speechless are revealing. For example, a central theme in the Christian tradition has been the role of speech in the creation of humans. Saint-Loup (1993) found that within this tradition, when God created Adam, he blew his spirit into him through divine breath or symbolically the
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gift of speech. Only humans have the gift of speech, which separates them from other animals. Saint-Loup noted that there were other links between speech and hearing in the Christian tradition. For example, Christians believed that the Immaculate Conception occurred via God’s word to Mary’s ear. Many early Christians believed Christianity held out no hope for people who were deaf. The influential scholar Aristotle had forwarded the misconception that symbols had to be auditory for understanding. If hearing was absent, he argued learning was impossible. This basic assumption would have lasting impact on people who were deaf than any other idea in the following centuries. For example, Saint Augustine (354–430 a.d.) believed that Christianity could only comfort people who were deaf, as they had no way to learn about God and acquire faith. Saint Augustine thought that deaf people were not endowed with knowledge and believed that no attempts be made to educate them, as they could not learn. Saint Augustine thought that faith was not possible because they could not learn faith without spoken language. Scholars credit him for the cannon law that excluded them from the privilege of Mass. However, scholars believe that he was misinterpreted. According to Deland (1968, p. 6), “This law prevailed during the middle ages, because it was considered necessary that the words of the Consecration of the Eucharist be pronounced in order that the transubstantiation be affected, but St. Augustine had nothing to do with it.” Some early Christians, such as the 5th century Saint Jerome, held that people who were deaf could understand by using signs (Saint-Loup, 1993). During the medieval period, people who were deaf, with a few exceptions, were not allowed to confess their sins. They were generally classified with people having developmental disabilities and those judged to be insane. As Christianity developed, gradually opportunities for increased participation by people who were deaf increased. Saint-Loup (1993) summarized they were able to be baptized in the 5th century, married in the 11th, give penance in the 13th, and take monastic vows in the 16th centuries. 1.1. The association with demons/witches Some Christians also endorsed punishing or executing people who had disabilities or were physically deformed. For example, Christians sometimes encouraged the execution of children with deformities or disabilities when they viewed them as products of witchcraft. Likewise, Christians also condoned the punishment or execution of suspected witches when the assumption was they had caused deformities in infants. Some Christian authorities interpreted the birth of children with congenital deformities as a sign of demonic intervention. During the Inquisition, this belief resulted in the execution of people with disabilities and/or their parents. Protestant reformers and Catholics alike viewed mental retardation as a form of satanic influence and tortured, exorcised, or killed infants. Christianity associated magic, sorcery, enchantments, spells, charms, evil spirits, and witchcraft with disease and disability. For example, medieval theologians concluded that incubi and succubae existed and had carnal relations with sleeping persons. This belief became undisputed dogma and served as a ready explanation for infants having disabilities or deformities, as they were seen as the products of such sexual encounters. During the Middle Ages, Christians saw those who were mentally ill as being possessed by demons and evil spirits. During the Renaissance, Christian officials believed that demonic
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possession as treatable. The principle task of Christian or secular practitioner was to find a way to drive the demons and evil spirits from the person’s body. Biblical passages, such as Luke 8: 26–29 and Mark 5: 1–20, supported this social perception of demonic possession. Following the Middle Ages, society became increasingly intolerant of mental illness and mental disorders. In early modern England, people viewed mental illness as frightening, mysterious, disturbing, and seen as a threat to the social order. Grob (1994: 8) wrote, “Madness in early modern England was a term that conjured up supernatural, religious, astrological, scientific, and medical elements.” In the past, people integrated those who were mentally ill into their communities and families. This would change and by the latter 17th century, as the family became less important in handling people with mental illness. The 16th and the 17th centuries were also periods when witch-hunting reached its peak. Witches were thought to cause victims to have “fits.” These fits were thought to be hysterical possessions by the devil. The idea of possession by a demon was an old notion that people used to explain mental illness and in some cases epilepsy. Given the general historical context of medicine from 1500 to 1700, any disease might be attributed to the workings of spirits or witchcraft, but certain outstanding groups, such as diseases of the nervous system, apoplexy, paralysis (partial and general), epilepsy, and hysteria, were specially attributed to witchcraft. For instance, William Drage’s Daimonomageia (1665) elaborates extensively about the role of witchcraft in promoting disease. Accusations of witchcraft were common in 17th century England and New England. It was also a time that many religious leaders commented on possession and mental illness. For example, the American religious leader Cotton Mather in the late 17th century argued that Satan tempted peoples’ moral weaknesses into madness. However, not everyone subscribed to demonic and witch-based causes of disability and disease. Henry Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), Paracelsus (1490–1541), Johann Weyer (1515–1588), and Reginald Scot (1538–1599) among others boldly challenged these demonic and witchcraft explanations for disease and disability. The Swiss physician Paracelsus proclaimed mental diseases had nothing to do with evil spirits or demons, and that one should not study exorcism to cure the insane. It should be noted that Christianity occasionally interpreted mental illness in a positive vein, as reflective of one’s extreme believe in or connection with God. For example, there was a belief that some people who were mentally ill held powers similar to saints, such as talking in tongues or predicting the future. This belief stretches across the centuries and sometimes linked to the conversion process of becoming a Christian. Saint Augustine’s (354–430) influential Confessions and the later Puritan John Bunyan’s (1628–1688) Grace Abounding (1666) describe madness as a conversion process. 2. Christianity’s treatment of people with disabilities or mental illness with compassion and care The second Christian tradition was based on compassion and understanding. According to the second tradition, people with disabilities were innocent victims of misfortune. Christianity’s role was to be the protector and benefactor for the downtrodden and disadvantaged. Christianity influenced society in a very humane way, such as helping to eliminate the practice of infanticide practiced by the Greeks and Romans.
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In addition to a more humane view of disability, the Old Testament noted that God had the power to eliminate disabilities, such as restoring sight. For example, disabilities and blindness were eliminated during the Exodus so that revelation on Mount Sinai could be provided to healthy people. When the biblical Isaac was born, all people who were blind regained their sight. One of the most famous stories of God’s restoration of sight was the ancient Hebrew story of Tobit from the Book of the Apocrypha (7: 7). Tobit following traditional cultural thought it was better to be dead than be blind. Tobit’s failing eyesight symbolized the loss of faith of the Hebrew people occurring in Tobit’s time. As he becomes blind, Tobit turns inward and reflective which leads to his spiritual enlightenment and eventual regaining of sight. One of the most significant changes between the Old and New Testaments was the role Christ plays in healing people with the disease or disabilities. Accounts of Christ healing individuals are found in the New Testament books such as Matthew 8: 2–4 and Luke 17: 13–17. They were popular theme by the Middle Ages and later centuries. The role of Jesus as physician-healer in the New Testament resulted in an emphasis on the treatment and care of people. The New Testament books of Mark 10: 46–52 and Luke, 18: 35–43 portray Jesus as having great compassion for blind and disabled people. Jesus expresses his empathy toward them in several sections, such as Mark 8: 22–25, and Matthew 9: 27–29 and 20: 30–34. He does not just care for people but cures them. In John 9: 1–41 Jesus encounters a man who is birth and restores his eyesight. Jesus indicates that his coming changes the moral interpretation of sight versus not seeing (John, 9: 39). In this passage, Jesus introduces the perspective that blindness is not punishment for sin. The Book of Matthew (20: 29–34) tells of a similar event of Christ simply touching the eyes to cure blindness. With the New Testament, it became possible to treat people with compassion. Under the encouragement and auspices of Christianity, people more frequently performed acts of charity and showed compassion toward people with disabilities. Evidence indicates that hospitals and asylums were built for the sick and destitute, including people with developmental disabilities. For instance in the 4th century, Saint Nicholas of Thaumaturgos the Bishop of Myra provided care to people with developmental disabilities. Historians have described the bishop as a protector of the “feeble-minded.” He also was described as caring for all children and the poor and his name would eventually become Santa Claus or Saint Nick. 2.1. Christianity as provider of care In line with the teachings of the New Testament, Christianity frequently helped and attempted to care or cure people with disabilities. The primary responsibility for caring for people had generally rested with family and friends and to some degree with the community. Before and during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Christianity became a care provider and was instrumental in establishing several hospitals and asylums. For example, beginning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, Christian authorities opened hospices to serve people who were blind. In 370, St. Basil the Bishop of Caesarea founded an asylum for people who were blind, poor, and in need. During the 5th century, St. Lymnaeus provided care to people who were blind in Syria. St. Herve (d. 565) found a monastery in Brittany that provided care. In the 7th century, Saint Benard (Bishop of Le Mans) established an institution for the blind in France. In Smithfield
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England, St. Bartholomew admitted people who were deaf, blind, and otherwise disabled. Later in the 7th century, St. Bertrand, the Bishop of Le Mans established an asylum in Pontlieu. By the 16th century, Christianity’s provider role would change dramatically. A series of clashes and wars between Christianity and the state over power and control dramatically changed the provision of care. Christianity lost much of its control and authority to the state. This struggle for control resulted in a reduction of funds available to care for the poor and consequently Christian sponsorship of facilities declined and people developed a greater sense of unworthiness of those seeking charity, such as those with severe disabilities. The state, due to centralization, was in a better position to maintain the social order and control people. For example, in England the Tudors actively supplanted Christian with secular power and consolidated their resources. With the gain in power, the Tudors were able to respond to the threat from growing populations of vagrants by institutionalizing people in houses and facilities, such as Bridewell, which was established in London in 1555. Present during the 16th and 17th centuries there was a sense that the public had a responsibility for the care and treatment of people who were mentally ill. In colonial 17th century America, the common view was that, society had a responsibility to care for the poor and dependent. Christian officials and women, rather than physicians, often treated sick individuals. As the age unfolded, society increasingly turned to confinement to address the needs of society and the individual. In Europe societies increasingly turned to confinement to manage people who were mentally ill. The French historian Foucault (1965) referred to this as the “Great Confinement.” By the close of the 17th century, the foundation for a more natural based view of people with mental illness had been laid. Spiritual and supernatural explanations for mental illness increasingly lost ground to natural and scientific based approaches. Rather than seeing people as sinners, people viewed those who were mentally ill as animals. The centuries, along with the 18th, brought about the image of the mentally ill as sub-human beasts. Medicine would supplant supernatural explanations and cures by the mid-18th century. An emphasis on rationality would be the rule. Towards the end of the 18th century Christianity’s influence over society further declined. Modern science and medicine began to undercut its role as healer of the body and mind. Trained doctors and nurses replaced priests and nuns as care providers.
References Augustine, S. (1993). In C. Gilliam (Ed.), The confessions. New York Cambridge University Press. Deland, F. (1968). The story of lip-reading: Its genesis and development. Washington, DC: The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc. Drage, W. (1965). Daimonomageia. London: J. Dover. Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason. New York: Random House. Grob, G. N. (1994). The mad among us: A history of the care of America’s mentally ill. New York: The Free Press. Groce, N. E. (1985). Everyone here spoke sign language: Hereditary deafness on Martha’s vineyard. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hand, W. D. (1980). Magical medicine: The folkloric component of medicine in the folk belief, custom, and ritual of the peoples of Europe and America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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John Bunyan, J. (1666). Grace abounding to the chief of sinners. London: George Larkin. Mather, I. (1984). An essay for the recording of illustrious providences: Wherein, an account is given of many remarkable and very memorable events, which have happened in this last age; especially in New England. Boston: Samuel Green. Saint-Loup, A. (1993). Images of the deaf in medieval western Europe. In R. Fischer & H. Lane (Eds.), Looking back: A reader on the history of deaf communities and their sign languages. Hamburg, Germany: Signum.