Regeneration, restoration and resurrection: scholastic inquiries into the nature of bodily growth and decay

Beginning in the twelfth century, a renaissance in Western European learning took place as law, medicine, natural philosophy and theology began to emerge as academic disciplines. Functioning in the context of a Christian world view, concerns over the ‘truth of human nature’ and the status of the body led numerous scholastic writers to focus on matters of the body, its growth and decay, ageing and longevity, life and death. Such issues that had long preoccupied the world of antiquity were re-oriented by the juxtaposition of medicine, philosophy and theology in the schools of Bologna, Montpelier and Paris. Stimulated in part by theological questions concerning the state of the body at the time of creation, after the fall and its re-constitution at the resurrection, the introduction of newly translated works by Aristotle, Avicenna and Galen saw these concerns expand into systematic attempts to explain ageing, longevity and the preservation of health. Within this tradition, Arnold of Villanova’s treatise on the radical moisture serves as an important illustration of these developments. While his writing was rooted in classical medicine and philosophy, less orthodox undercurrents can be detected seeking to preserve youth and extend life by alchemy and magic. Such treatises vied with the orthodoxies of Aristotle and Avicenna, while claiming the authority of the learned doctors themselves. This paper concludes by suggesting that both traditions–the orthodox and the heterodox–are evident to this day, even if couched in different terminologies.