Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen

Illness, Pain, and Health Care in Early Christianity

History & Biography

“With her characteristic sensitivity to human nature and frailty, Rhee explores how Christians incorporated Greco-Roman medical practices and health philosophies into their own emerging theological, social, and political identities. This multidisciplinary study effectively demonstrates the level of care and attention that early Christians gave to matters of the body as they drew from Jewish, Greek, and Roman sources to inform their own developing views. This study of Christian medical care and constructions of illness and pain is a significant contribution to the growing academic interest in how medical philosophies and theologies shape personal and communal views of health and well-being.”