Thomas Browne

Religio Medici Thomas Browne

Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend by Sir Thomas Browne. Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor) by Sir Thomas Browne is a spiritual testament and an early psychological self-portrait. Published in 1642 after an unauthorized version was distributed the previous year, it became a European best-seller which brought its author fame at home and abroad. Structured upon the Christian virtues of Faith and Hope (part 1) and Charity (part 2), Browne expresses his beliefs in the doctrine of sola fide, the existence of hell, the Last Judgment, the resurrection and other tenets of Protestantism. Throughout Religio Medici Browne uses scientific imagery to illustrate religious truths as part of his discussion on the relationship of science to religion, a topic which has lost none of its contemporary relevance. It is upon his "Religio Medici"-the religion of a physician-that Browne's fame chiefly rests. It was his first and most celebrated work, published just after his return from his travels; it gives us the impres- sions made on his mind by the various and opposite schools he had passed through. He tells us that he never intended to publish it, but that on its being surreptitiously printed, he was induced to do so. In 1643, the first genuine edition appeared, with "an admonition to such as shall peruse the observations upon a former corrupt copy of this book." The observations here alluded to, were written by Sir Kenelm Digby, and sent by him to the Earl of Dorset. They were first printed at the end of the edition of 1643, and have ever since been published with the book. Their chief merit consists in the marvellous rapidity with which they were written, Sir Kenelm having, as he tells us, bought the book, read it, and written his observations, in the course of twenty-four hours!