In the Middle Ages there were two main civilisations: Christianity and Islam. They both developed their own theories about medicine and treatment. It has been argued that both religions have the best medical treatment, though they have many similarities. Even though they have a lot of theories the same, the qualities of the cultures were different therefore they believed different things. The similarities in treatments are mainly due to ancient medical writers, e. g. Hippocrates and Galen.
Both religions believed that they were right so they did not dispute their findings, i. e. the four humours, and ideas on anatomy, and this held them both back. Islam greatly respected the ancient writings. These books were placed in libraries that were built in both places, though the Middle East had more since few European people could read because Christianity was a less literate society. Both religions holy book’s dictated what they believed in because they thought that all knowledge needed for medicine was in the Koran/Bible.
They thought there was no point in looking for new discoveries since it was all in there. For religious reasons, dissection wasn’t allowed in Islam, and this held them back on knowledge of anatomy. In Christianity, only one body a year was allowed for dissection in medical school. In both religions, their holy books preach that you have to help others less fortunate then you. In Islam, they took this very seriously so they built large hospitals in the major cities designed for taking care of the poor and treating them.
In Christianity, they had hospitals, but they specialised in ‘hospitality’ and not the actual treating of people. Only 10% of hospitals actually treated the sick in England. There were few differences between the faiths; one was the qualities that each faith’s members were supposed to have. In Islam, they greatly respected educated people. They put emphasise on being able to read and write because they idolised the ancient writers who could, like Galen and Hippocrates.
Libraries were built on a large scale and books were very important to them. As they learned more, they were able to translate the original sources of the ancient writers, enabling them to learn more about medicine and the old ways. Another quality the Muslims had was the urge to help others. Their faith says that they were to help and care for others less fortunate then themselves, so they built hospitals to treat them, this let them build up on their knowledge of different illnesses and treatments.
Few Christians knew how to read or write in the Middle Ages, so they didn’t consider education as an important quality. They learnt a lot about anatomy from war. They kept to the writings of Galen and Hippocrates very firmly. A few people disputed their findings, but they weren’t taken seriously due to the fact that the Church backed their ideas, so they didn’t want anyone else coming along and telling Christianity that they were wrong. The power of the church stopped new ideas from coming through.
In conclusion, both religions helped medicine along, but they also held it back, but in different ways. Neither religion knew very much about the treatments of illnesses because they had completely the wrong idea about what caused the illness. They both knew the basics of anatomy due to wars. They both thought that their holy books had all the answers, so they didn’t put too much emphasise on discovering new things. Both faiths helped medicine n their own way, but they were held firmly back by the belief that the ancient writers were right.