Paracelsus: Medicine, Magic and Mission at the End of Time (review)

Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), better known as Paracelsus, is one of the most enigmatic figures of the sixteenth century. His writings are voluminous, and his theories are complex. He excited strong and contradictory responses from his contemporaries. He led a peripatetic existence, unable to find a stable source of income or patronage, and he made enemies of powerful people. He was accused of habitual drunkenness, filthy personal habits, bizarre behavior, and consorting with demons. But he also attracted a large and devoted following, especially in the decades after his death. He was called "the Luther of medicine" (p. 2), and he repeatedly cured patients (like the Basel publisher Johann Froben) after other doctors had given up on them. Between 1560 and 1645, 345 editions of his works were published (p. 35), making him one of the most influential medical writers of the early modern period. Despite Paracelsus's demonstrable importance in the history of medicine, the last scholarly biography in English was Walter Pagel's book of 1958.¹ Charles Webster's excellent account of the life and career of Paracelsus provides a much needed new biography of this fascinating figure, one that reflects the developments in Paracelsus scholarship in the decades since Pagel's work appeared.

When Pagel wrote, historians of medicine and science tended to focus exclusively on Paracelsus's medical and natural philosophical writings and to ignore his theological writings. Although most of Paracelsus's medical and natural philosophical writings were published in the second half of the sixteenth century, almost all of his theological writings remained in manuscript until the second half of the twentieth century. However, in recent years, Paracelsus scholars have mined the theological writings and have argued that Paracelsus's medical theories were inextricably intertwined with his religious views. Webster's book synthesizes much of this recent specialized scholarship (including his own work) and makes it accessible to a nonspecialist audience. He shows, for example, that Paracelsus's tripartite matter theory, in which all things in the cosmos are made of sulfur, mercury and salt, was connected to his understanding of the Trinity. According to Webster, "The three new principles were . . . described in terms of both unity and trinity . . . and the progressive refinement that they supervised in nature was described as becoming 'transfigured, glorified' . . .—terminology usually encountered with respect to the Creator, the resurrection of Christ, or . . . with regard to the Eucharist" (p. 135). Not only does Webster situate Paracelsus's medical ideas in the context of his theological views, he also presents Paracelsus as a religious reformer first and a medical reformer second. Accordingly, the bulk of the book is devoted to Paracelsus's religious writings. Webster treats Paracelsus as a serious theologian in his own right, one who was critical both of the "magisterial" reformers Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli as well as of the more radical Anabaptists sects. In theological matters, Paracelsus "maintain[ed] a position of resolute independence" (p. 78). His Eucharistic theology, for example, was distinct from "Catholic transubstantiation, Luther's consubstantiation, and Zwingli's symbolism" (p. 200).

In addition to explicating some of Paracelsus's major ideas, this book provides nonspecialists with a fine introduction to the world of the sixteenth-century Holy Roman Empire. Webster paints a vivid picture of the social upheavals caused by recurrent famines and peasant revolts, the intellectual currents of humanism and neo-Platonism, the looming fear of Turkish invasion, and, of course, the tumultuous religious controversies. The second chapter, "The Power of Print," is an excellent overview of the print market in early-modern German-speaking areas, ranging from the humanist presses of Basel to the "popular" presses of Strasbourg. In sum, Webster has produced an excellent introduction to Paracelsus and his age that should certainly replace Pagel's work as the standard biography in English.