"Quacks, Nostrums, and Miraculous Cures: Narrartives of Medical Modernity in the Nineteenth-Century United States" (original) (raw)
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Mid-Nineteenth-Century Secularism As Modern Secularity
Organized Secularism in the United States, 2017
In this chapter, I examine Secularism as founded by George Jacob Holyoake in 1851-52. In particular, I focus on the distinction that Holyoake maintained over the course of fifty years regarding his branch of Secularism, in the face of the broader, arguably more successful division of the movement led by Charles Bradlaugh. As distinct from Bradlaugh, for Holyoake, the “secular” did not primarily signify the absence or negation of religious belief or practice. Rather, by the secular, Holyoake indicated a substantive category in its own right. Secularism itself represented a “positive” creed and movement intended to supersede or superintend both theism and atheism. Holyoake imagined and fostered the co-existence of secular and religious elements subsisting under a common umbrella. Already in the mid-nineteenth century, Holyoake and others considered the secular and the religious as complementary and co-constituting aspects of what we might call, after Charles Taylor in his monumental A Secular Age (2007), an overarching modern “secularity,” but which Holyoake termed Secularism proper. Holyoake’s conception of Secularism was not only at odds with the understanding of the Bradlaugh camp during his own lifetime but it also differs markedly from the standard secularization thesis that developed in the nineteenth century (Comte, Marx, Weber, et al.) and beyond, and which since has been disavowed by most historians and even its erstwhile exponents among sociologists (e.g. Peter Berger). I argue that Holyoake’s Secularism should be understood as an early intervention in what has since become known as modern secularization theory. I consider its significance as an historic moment in the previously unrecognized inauguration of modern secularity as it can now be understood.
soc.qc.cuny.edu
The most profound question to be asked of a civilization is in what form it experiences its tragedies.
ucalgary.ca
My lecture this evening focuses on the latest book by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor entitled, A Secular Age (2007). 1 The book has been attracting wide attention in the scholarly community and, I think, justly so. He offers valuable insights into the complex factors that have given rise to secularism in the West. Taylor also offers insight into the continuing strength of religious faith in our day and explains why many secularization theorists, who prophesied the demise of religion, have been wrong. It is in a spirit of respect and appreciation that I offer my reading of Taylor's new book.
process that we call secularization, and his intention is to demonstrate the inadequacy of mainstream secularization theory (MST). The MST generally states that 1) in the modern period, beginning in the 17th century and increasingly in the 19 th , the place of religion in public life declined and religious belief and practice substantially decreased; 2) these changes are the result of something like industrialization, urbanization, the differentiation of value spheres, or the progress of the natural sciences; and 3) that this decline and decrease should be seen as a linear progression, was all but inevitable, and will almost certainly continue. The MST is an example of what Taylor calls "subtraction stories," the chief culprits in Taylor's account.
“Man’s Redemption of Man”: Medical Authority and Faith Healers in North America, 1850 - 1930
2020
This thesis discusses the various rhetorical, logical, and legal methods the medical profession used to regulate faith healing in North America. In so doing, it illuminates larger questions about the place of religion and authority over the body in modernity. It uses a source base of medical journals, legal documents, and church records to illustrate how doctors positioned themselves as the rational and godly choice for sick people. While faith healing was originally one of many "cures" and kinds of medicine available to North Americans during the 19 th century, the medical field rapidly professionalized and supported laws requiring anyone claiming to practice medicine to adhere to one form of scientificallybased medicine. To support this change, physicians used the category of "quackery," which implies backwardness and superstition, to illustrate the hazards of faith healing and other alternative medicines. Later, the rise of psychology in the 1890s reshaped physicians' view of faith healing, and they came to explain its claims of success by arguing that "suggestion," or messages to a person's unconscious beliefs, can cure particular (gendered) kinds of mental illnesses. Doctors and clergy became curious about the safe use of suggestion, and embarked on experiments like the Emmanuel Movement. In showing this trajectory, this thesis demonstrates the cooperation between the clergy and the medical profession to delineate what they believed was a "rational" form of Protestantism, in opposition to the perceived excesses of faith healers. The possibility of a rational Protestantism led clergy and physicians to cooperate in several investigations into faith healers' activities. Both professions lent their voices in support of the psychologized view of faith healing. Finally, this thesis examines legal documents and court cases involving faith healing, demonstrating the concrete application of medical authority in jurisdictions across North America. Through this examination, this thesis will suggest that medical culture and mainstream Protestantism deeply influenced each other in this period, complicating a conventional picture of them as completely separate modes of knowledge. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Heather Murray, for making this process smooth and joyful as possible. She is a patient guide through the confusing procedural necessities of a program as well as an amazing scholar whose edits, book lists, and suggestions made this thesis what it is. I would also like to thank Professors Serge Durflinger and Béatrice Craig for agreeing to be readers and for their insight, despite the upheaval of COVID-19 making it all more difficult. Thank you especially to Professor Craig for first suggesting that I should try to do an MA. She made me realize the possibilities of doing history and mentored me throughout my undergraduate years-I would never have thought of any of this without her. I would also like to thank my parents, Glen and Debbie McIntyre, for all their support and love throughout my education. It would never have been possible without them putting me on the path and unconditionally supporting my goals. Additionally, thank you to all my friends, but especially Victoria Gauthier and Mike Scott, for putting up with my rambling about this dissertation's obscure subject matter and for being extremely supportive. Thank you to Dr. James Opp at Carleton University for fielding questions about his work, which was very helpful. I'd also like to thank Dr. Kevin Kee for putting me in touch with Dr. Opp. Thank you to Dr. Emma Anderson from UOttawa's religious studies department for talking over this thesis with me and lending me a book.