[Melancholy between medicine and religion: from a pathology of religious behaviour to a pathological practice of religion].
By proposing in 1621 to create the completely separate category of religious melancholy, Burton inaugurated the medicalisation of religious controversy which developed considerably after the English Civil Wars. While religious melancholy was a useful critical and polemical weapon for all the defenders of Anglican orthodoxy trying to present fanatics (enthusiasts) and atheists as sick people suffering from a humoural imbalance, it finally came in the early 18th century to designate a certain way of practising religion or alternatively the behaviour of those who devoted their lives to religion. The present article examines this transition from a medical interpretation of nonconformist religious behaviour to the identification of a pathological practice of religion.
Crignon-De Oliveira
Claire
C
CERPHI, ENS Lettres et Sciences Humaines, 16, rue des Coutures Saint Gervais, F-75003 Paris. crideo@free.fr
D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D012067:Religion; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012925:Social Conformity