Comparative Analysis of the View of World Religions and Orthodox Christianity on Questions of Health

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleСравнительный анализ содержания источников основных мировых религий и православного христианства по вопросам здоровья человека
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Scientific theories and disciplines > Medicine
6. Publication date 06-03-2018
7. lemma work Дубограй, Е. В. [Author]. Сравнительный анализ содержания источников основных мировых религий и православного христианства по вопросам здоровья человека
8. lemma manifestations Социология медицины
9. Keywords Religiosity - health - disease - world religions - Hinduism - Buddhism - Judaism - zoroastrianism - orthodoxy and health - treatment of disease
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Дубограй, Е. В. Сравнительный анализ содержания источников основных мировых религий и православного христианства по вопросам здоровья человека (социологический обзор). <em>Социология медицины</em>. 2012. №1. Retrieved from: <a href="https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sravnitelnyy-analiz-soderzhaniya-istochnikov-osnovnyh-mirovyh-religiy-i-pravoslavnogo-hristianstva-po-voprosam-zdorovya-cheloveka">https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sravnitelnyy-analiz-soderzhaniya-istochnikov-osnovnyh-mirovyh-religiy-i-pravoslavnogo-hristianstva-po-voprosam-zdorovya-cheloveka</a> </p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The article studies sacred texts of different religious traditions and tries to define their vision of the relationship between religiosity and health. Hinduism, according to the author, sees a connection between the state of health of a person and his/her daily behaviour. A person of bad behaviour is subject to illness and short life. It is possible, however, to improve one’s health through observation of religious rites and norms of behaviour. Zoroastrianism focuses on the observance of sanitary and hygienic norms, including them within the scope of religious rules and traditions. Taking care of one's health is represented as an indispensable duty of every believer. Buddhism, like Hinduism, stresses the relationship between human acts (karma) and health. Certain misdeeds are correlated with the appearance of specific physical or mental disorders both in current and future lives. Confucianism views health as an integral component of happiness. Confucius preached strict observance of conventional norms of behaviour, traditions, customs, and rituals.

       In Judaism, the disease is seen as a divine punishment for lack of faith or sin, with next generations paying for the ancestors’ misdeeds. Only God is believed to be able to heal, often through the mediation of medical practice. Jewish tradition has also always paid much attention to mental health. Christianity, like Judaism, maintains that people can be sick because of their sins. Physical healing is seen as an indication of moral healing. But a person can also get sick because of uncommitted sins. God can send an illness upon one to make one think and not sin in the future. Islam, being the youngest of world religions, has borrowed a lot from Jewish and Christian traditions. The fulfillment of moral norms is believed to reduce the likelihood of a moral conflict and make Muslims mentally balanced and healthy. Unlike some older religions, Islam does not consider disease and ugliness as something shameful for a person, a sign of an unrighteous life. A sick person patiently and courageously trying to overcome the disease, resorting to the help of others, is believed to be fulfilling God’s will and is likely to be healed.

       Orthodox Christianity, like other world religions, regards human health as a resource given to a person by higher powers (God) to fulfill its earthly destiny. It also sees the body as the vessel in which the soul is located. Orthodoxy thus prescribes to take care of one’s body and health in order to prevent illnesses. One of the important prevention practices in Orthodoxy is “not falling into despair,” cheerfulness being an important factor of healing. Burning incense in the course of Orthodox church services is also believed to be beneficial for health. Moreover, if during the church service, accompanied by incense burning, the person comes to a state of affection, tranquility or joy, then upon the next visit to the church the familiar fragrant smell is likely to remind him/her of the feelings experienced earlier, helping to experience the state again.