Medicine, Natural Philosophy and Religion in Post-Reformation Scandinavia

The close relationship between religion, medicine and natural philosophy in the post-Reformation period has been documented and explored in a body of research since the 1990s; however, the direct and continued impact of Melanchthonian natural philosophy within the individual Lutheran principalities of northern Europe in general and Scandinavia in particular still has to be fully investigated and understood. This volume provides insight into how and why medicine and natural philosophy in a 'liberal' and Melanchthonian form could continue to blossom in Scandinavia despite a growing Lutheran uniformity promoted by the State. Inspired by research emanating from the Cambridge Unit for the History of Medicine, here a number of young scholars such as Adam Mosley, Morten Fink-Jensen, Signe Nipper Nielsen and Martin Kjellgren are joined with more established scholars such as Andrew Cunningham, Jens Glebe-Møller, Terhi Kiiskinen and Ole Peter Grell to create a volume which deals with not only the major issues but also the leading personalities of the period.

CONTENTS List of Contributors List of Figures Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Ole Peter Grell 2. Philip Melanchthon and his significance for natural philosophy: Andrew Cunningham 3. Daniel Sennert and the chymico-atomical reform of medicine: Joel A. Klein 4. The changing face of Lutheranism in post-Reformation Denmark: Rasmus H. C. Dreyer 5. After Tycho: Philippist astronomy and cosmology in the work of Brahe's Scandinavian assistants: Adam Mosley 6. The Book of Nature and the Word of God. Lutheran natural philosophy and medicine in early 17th century Denmark and Norway: Morten Fink-Jensen 7. Holger Rosenkrantz, 'the Learned' (1574-1642): Jens Glebe-Møller 8. The significance of monstrous births in Thomas Bartholin’s natural philosophy: Signe Nipper Nielsen 9. Three seventeenth century manuals on how and where to study medicine: Ole Peter Grell 10. The natural philosophy of Sigfrid Aronus Forsius: between the Created World and God: Terhi Kiiskinen 11. Johannes Bureus and the Prisca Astronomia: A Lutheran Antiquary Engages with the New Science: Matthew Norris 12. By Natural Means: Magic and Medicine in Ericus Johannis Prytz’ Magia incantatrix (1632): Martin Kjellgren Index

Ole Peter Grell is Professor in Early Modern History and Director of the Renaissance and Early Modern Research Group at The Open University, UK. Andrew Cunningham is former Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, UK.