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Religio Medici
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178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1643
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2064 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Browne
643 books128 followersSir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English polymath and author of works on various subjects, including science, medicine, religion and esoteric.
Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffering from melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.
After graduating M.A. from Broadgates Hall, Oxford (1629), he studied medicine privately and worked as an assistant to an Oxford doctor. He then attended the Universities of Montpellier and Padua, and in 1633 he was graduated M.D. at Leiden.
Browne's medical education in Europe also earned him incorporation as M.D. from Oxford, and in 1637 he moved to Norwich, where he lived and practiced medicine until his death in 1682. While Browne seems to have had a keen intellect and was interested in many subjects, his life was outwardly uneventful, although during the Civil War he declared his support for King Charles I and received a knighthood from King Charles II in 1671.
Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffering from melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.
After graduating M.A. from Broadgates Hall, Oxford (1629), he studied medicine privately and worked as an assistant to an Oxford doctor. He then attended the Universities of Montpellier and Padua, and in 1633 he was graduated M.D. at Leiden.
Browne's medical education in Europe also earned him incorporation as M.D. from Oxford, and in 1637 he moved to Norwich, where he lived and practiced medicine until his death in 1682. While Browne seems to have had a keen intellect and was interested in many subjects, his life was outwardly uneventful, although during the Civil War he declared his support for King Charles I and received a knighthood from King Charles II in 1671.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
April 2, 2019
No Englishman has deserved to be called a “Renaissance Man” more than Sir Thomas Browne. He was a practicing physician, but also a voluminous reader, fascinated by theology, philosophy, and natural history. In his late thirties, he published his first book Religio Medici (“A Doctor's Religion,” (1643), where--in an intimate, periodic style that gives the illusion of reproducing the very process of thought—he explores the variegated and unorthodox paths that led him to his orthodox Anglicanism. Above all, the book impresses the reader with Browne's erudition, discernment amiability, and tolerance; the book's greatest gift is our knowledge of Thomas Browne himself.
Religio Medici, however, has given English literature another great gift: the influence of its rambling, personable style, each formidable sentence flowing like a river until it reaches a welcome cove—or confluence—of thought. Charles Lamb loved Browne's prose, and introduced him to Coleridge. Thomas de Quincey loved him too; every paragraph of de Quincey—at least every one that I have read—bears the unmistakable mark of Thomas Browne.
Here is a representative sentence—yes, one sentence!—in which Browne discourses upon time, eternity, and predestination, ending appropriately in a metaphor for paradise:
Time we may comprehend, 'tis but five days elder then our selves, and hath the same Horoscope with the world; but to retire so farre backe as to apprehend a beginning, to give such an infinite start forward, as to conceive an end in an essence that wee affirme hath neither the one nor the other; it puts my reason to Saint Pauls Sanctuary; my Philosophy dares not say the Angells can doe it; God hath not made a creature that can comprehend him, 'tis the priviledge of his owne nature; I am that I am, was his owne definition unto Moses; and 'twas a short one, to confound mortalitie, that durst question God, or aske him what hee was; indeed he only is, all others have and shall be, but in eternity there is no distinction of Tenses; and therefore that terrible terme Predestination, which hath troubled so many weake heads to conceive, and the wisest to explaine, is in respect to God no prescious determination of our estates to come, but a definitive blast of his will already fulfilled, and at the instant that he first decreed it; for to his eternitie which is indivisible, and altogether, the last Trumpe is already sounded, the reprobates in the flame, and the blessed in Abrahams bosome.
Want to read
January 5, 2019Referred to by When Breath Becomes Air
November 28, 2010
Fantastic prose and rambling ruminations from the doctor-theologian-polymath on charity, faith, hope, and other topics. In a highly personal mode, Browne finds a way of discoursing on everything under the sun, showing how he can be both a man of science and a principled believer. His outlook is that of an open-minded skeptic and a close reader of both the Bible and the Greek and Roman classics.
June 19, 2013
I read this on Pater's recommendation.
Browne is a tolerant and curious man, trying to be a moderate Protestant, trying to reconcile science, scholarship, and faith. He's not at all a rigorous thinker, but he is warm-hearted and sincere. It's striking, to modern eyes, how almost childishly fearful he is of being too curious about potentially heretical matters -- and how courageous he is in the face of death. He's erudite (I couldn't follow the patter of Latin quotes) but not philosophically sophisticated. But then again, his view of the timelessness of God *is* pretty much spacetime. The overall impression is of a brave innocent.
Browne is a tolerant and curious man, trying to be a moderate Protestant, trying to reconcile science, scholarship, and faith. He's not at all a rigorous thinker, but he is warm-hearted and sincere. It's striking, to modern eyes, how almost childishly fearful he is of being too curious about potentially heretical matters -- and how courageous he is in the face of death. He's erudite (I couldn't follow the patter of Latin quotes) but not philosophically sophisticated. But then again, his view of the timelessness of God *is* pretty much spacetime. The overall impression is of a brave innocent.
March 29, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in November 1998.
Ever since reading Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night for the first time, and seeing how much pleasure the metaphysical poets and Thomas Browne gave her (through the enjoyment she assigned to her characters), I have wanted to read these works for myself. This year I have finally got round to doing so, and was not disappointed. They provide much the same kind of pleasure, in the images used and the linguistic invention in which the writers take such joy. This is perhaps to be expected in poetry, but much less so in prose (even seventeenth century prose), particularly when the subject under discussion is philosophy and theology.
There are many parallels with Gide's Fruits of the Earth, which I read only a short time before Religio Medici: both are written mainly in prose, a prose which reads like poetry; both have similar subject matter; both were written by comparatively young men. Browne's work is, naturally (given its date) more orthodox and (given Browne's nationality) more Protestant in outlook. However, Browne was not completely orthodox; he thought for himself and was not afraid to come to different conclusions from mainstream seventeenth century Anglican theology. (He is much more tolerant of Catholicism and other religions, for example.)
The joys of Religio Medici are in its beautiful language and Browne's humanity, his understanding and his insight. It is not surprising that it was loved by Lord Peter, and by many others
Ever since reading Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night for the first time, and seeing how much pleasure the metaphysical poets and Thomas Browne gave her (through the enjoyment she assigned to her characters), I have wanted to read these works for myself. This year I have finally got round to doing so, and was not disappointed. They provide much the same kind of pleasure, in the images used and the linguistic invention in which the writers take such joy. This is perhaps to be expected in poetry, but much less so in prose (even seventeenth century prose), particularly when the subject under discussion is philosophy and theology.
There are many parallels with Gide's Fruits of the Earth, which I read only a short time before Religio Medici: both are written mainly in prose, a prose which reads like poetry; both have similar subject matter; both were written by comparatively young men. Browne's work is, naturally (given its date) more orthodox and (given Browne's nationality) more Protestant in outlook. However, Browne was not completely orthodox; he thought for himself and was not afraid to come to different conclusions from mainstream seventeenth century Anglican theology. (He is much more tolerant of Catholicism and other religions, for example.)
The joys of Religio Medici are in its beautiful language and Browne's humanity, his understanding and his insight. It is not surprising that it was loved by Lord Peter, and by many others
December 24, 2014
A beautifully edifying meditation written by a great prose stylist whose life and thought, like his near contemporary Giordino Bruno, embody the transition from the Renaissance to modernity. It is splendid to spend an evening or two with such a sensible and probing mind.
Read
July 19, 2021“En el corazón del hombre moran los demonios: a veces siento el fuego del infierno en mis entrañas; mi pecho alberga el palacio de Lucifer, y la legión resucita en mí”
November 16, 2016
I read this work because it is mentioned multiple times in When Air Becomes Breath by the author as an influential work in his life. He read this book multiple times in regard to how the language flowed and the depth of meaning. I read this book by reading it out loud and silently and found it to be informative as a basis of some beliefs and in some ways archaic in the view of ecumenical movements.
September 2, 2017
I picked up this book after it was mentioned in "When Breath Becomes Air", one of the books we read for our book club. The author said that he had read it multiple times during medical school, and I thought it must have been of significance in his religious experience as well as on his career.
It is a beautiful book written my a physician in the 17th century talking about his faith. It sometimes is a little difficult to read (a lot of extra silent es in words apparently), but if you take the time, it is some beautiful prose. I love his expressions of faith and love. He is able to transcend many of the narrow religious arguments of his day, and reaches out in love to others. I love his example of faith and charity, two major topics throughout the book.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
On the misuse of rhetoric and inflammatory speech over reason:
Those usuall Satyrs, and invectives of the Pulpit may by chance produce a good effect on the vulgar, whose eares are opener to Rhetorick then Logick, yet doe they in no wise confirme the faith of wiser beleevers, who know that a good cause needs not to be patron'd by a passion, but can sustaine it selfe upon a temperate dispute. (10)
On not making fun of the traditions of the Catholic Church:
At a solemne Procession I have wept abundantly, while my consorts, blinde with opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excesse of scorne and laughter... (8)
I have no Genius to disputes in Religion, and have often thought it wisedome to decline them, especially upon a disadvantage, or when the cause of truth might suffer in the weaknesse of my patronage: where we desire to be informed, 'tis good to contest with men above our selves; but to confirme and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgements below our own, that the frequent spoyles and victories over their reasons may settle in our selves an esteeme, and confirmed opinion of our owne. (11)
A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet bee forced to surrender; 'tis therefore farre better to enjoy her with peace, then to hazzard her on a battell. (11)
To see our selves againe, we need not looke for Platoes yeare; every man is not onely himselfe; there have beene many Diogenes, and as many Timons, though but few of that name: men are lived over againe, the world is now as it was in ages past; there was none then, but there hath been some one since that parallels him, and is, as it were, his revived selfe. (12)
Having to start a new sect whenever you have a new opinion:
Those have not only depraved understandings but diseased affections, which cannot enjoy a singularity without a Heresie, or be the author of an opinion without they be of a Sect also. (14)
On Churches condemning each other:
'Tis true we all hold there is a number of Elect, and many to be saved, yet, take our opinions together, and from the confusion thereof there will be no such thing as salvation, nor shall any one be saved; for first the Church of Rom condemneth us, wee likewise them, the Sub-reformists and Sectaries sentence the Doctrine of our Church as damnable, the Atomist, or Familist reprobates all these, and all these them againe. Thus, whilst the mercies of God do promise us heaven, our conceits and opinions exclude us from that place. There must be therefore more than one Saint Peter; particular Churches and Sects usurope the gates of heaven, and turne the key against each other, and thus we goe to heaven against each others wills, conceits, and opinions, and with as much uncharity as ignorance, doe erre I feare in points not onely of our own, but one anothers salvation. (84)
On unexpected salvation:
I beleeve many are saved who to man seem reprobated, and many reprobated, who, in the opinion and sentence of man, stand elected; there will appeare at the last day strange and unexpected examples both of his justice and his mercy, and therefore to define either is folly in man, and insolency even in the devils. (84)
Browne as the humble caboose into heaven:
The number of those who pretend unto salvation, and those infinite swarmes who thinke to passe through the eye of this Needle, hath much amazed me. That name and compellation of little Flocke, doth not comfort but deject my devotion, especially when I reflect upon mine owne unworthinesse, wherein, according to my humble apprehensions I am below them all... Yet is it (I protest) beyond my ambition to aspire unto the first rankes, my desires only are, and I shall be happy therein, to be but the last man, and bring up the Rere in Heaven (85)
Our faith is miniscule:
And if our Saviour could object unto his owne Disciples, and favourites, a faith, that, to the quantity of a graine of Mustard seed, is able to remove mountaines; surely, that which wee boast of, is not any thing, or at the most, but a remove from nothing. (87)
The multitude:
If there be any among those common objects of hatred I doe contemne and laugh at, it is the great enemy of reason, vertue and religion, the multitude; that numerous piece of monstrosity, which taken asunder seeme men, and the reasonable creatures of God; but confused together, make but one great beast, and a monstrosity more prodigious than Hydra. (88)
On the you scratch my back, I scratch yours, kind of charity:
Hee that relieves another upon the bare suggestion and bowels of pity, doth not this so much for his sake as for his own; for by compassioni we make anothers misery our own, and so by relieving them, we relieve our selves also. It is as erroneous a conceite to redresse other mens misfortunes upon that common consideration of mercifull natures, that it may bee one day our own case; for this is a sinister and politick kind of charity, whereby we seem to bespeak the pities of men. (90)
On learning and teaching as charity:
It is no greater Charity to cloath his body, than apparell the nakednesse of his Soule. IT is an honourable object to see th ereasons of other men weare our liveries, and their borrowed understandings doe homage to the bounty of ours... To be reserved and caitif in this part of goodnesse, is the sordidest part of covetousnesse, and more contemptible than pecuniary avarice... I study not for my owne sake onely, but for theirs that study not for themselves. I envy no man that knowes more than my selfe, but pity those than know lesse. (93)
Useless arguments:
I cannot contemne a man for an errour, or conceive why a difference in opinion should divide an affection; for controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in Philosophy and Dvinity, of they meete with discreet and peaceable natures, doe not infringe the Lawes of Charity...
Yea, even amongst wiser militants, how many wounds have beene givene, and credits slaine, for the poore victory of an opinion, or beggerly conquest of a distinction?
Abolishing vice:
They that endeavour to abolish vice destroy also vertue, for contraries, though they destroy one another, are yet the life of one another (96)
On judgment:
No man can justly censure or condemne another, because indeed no man truely knows another... Further, no man can judge another, because no man knowes humselfe, for we censure others but as they disagree from that humour which wee fancy laudable in our selves, and commend them but for that wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with us. (96)
On zeal and charity:
'Tis the generall complaint of these times, and perhaps of those past, that charity growes cold; which I perceive most verified in those which most doe manifest the fires and flames of zeale; for it is a vertue that best agrees with coldest natures, and such as are complexioned for humility. (97)
This is a beautiful section, that I think the author of "When Breath Becomes Air" must have thought about during his residency:
There is I thinke no man that apprehends his owne miseries lesse than my selfe, and no man that so neerely apprehends anothers. I coudl lose an arme without a teare, and with a few groans, mee thinkes, be quartered into pieces; yet I can weepe most seriously at a Play, and receive with a true passion, the coutnerfeit griefes of those knowne and professed impostours. It is a barbarous part of inhumanity to adde unto an afflicted parties misery, or endeavour to multiply in any man, a passion, whose single nature is already above his patience... It is not the teares of our owne eyes onely, but of our friends also, that doe exhaust the current of our sorrowes, which, falling into many streames, runnes more peaceably, and is contented with a narrower channel
It is a beautiful book written my a physician in the 17th century talking about his faith. It sometimes is a little difficult to read (a lot of extra silent es in words apparently), but if you take the time, it is some beautiful prose. I love his expressions of faith and love. He is able to transcend many of the narrow religious arguments of his day, and reaches out in love to others. I love his example of faith and charity, two major topics throughout the book.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
On the misuse of rhetoric and inflammatory speech over reason:
Those usuall Satyrs, and invectives of the Pulpit may by chance produce a good effect on the vulgar, whose eares are opener to Rhetorick then Logick, yet doe they in no wise confirme the faith of wiser beleevers, who know that a good cause needs not to be patron'd by a passion, but can sustaine it selfe upon a temperate dispute. (10)
On not making fun of the traditions of the Catholic Church:
At a solemne Procession I have wept abundantly, while my consorts, blinde with opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excesse of scorne and laughter... (8)
I have no Genius to disputes in Religion, and have often thought it wisedome to decline them, especially upon a disadvantage, or when the cause of truth might suffer in the weaknesse of my patronage: where we desire to be informed, 'tis good to contest with men above our selves; but to confirme and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgements below our own, that the frequent spoyles and victories over their reasons may settle in our selves an esteeme, and confirmed opinion of our owne. (11)
A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet bee forced to surrender; 'tis therefore farre better to enjoy her with peace, then to hazzard her on a battell. (11)
To see our selves againe, we need not looke for Platoes yeare; every man is not onely himselfe; there have beene many Diogenes, and as many Timons, though but few of that name: men are lived over againe, the world is now as it was in ages past; there was none then, but there hath been some one since that parallels him, and is, as it were, his revived selfe. (12)
Having to start a new sect whenever you have a new opinion:
Those have not only depraved understandings but diseased affections, which cannot enjoy a singularity without a Heresie, or be the author of an opinion without they be of a Sect also. (14)
On Churches condemning each other:
'Tis true we all hold there is a number of Elect, and many to be saved, yet, take our opinions together, and from the confusion thereof there will be no such thing as salvation, nor shall any one be saved; for first the Church of Rom condemneth us, wee likewise them, the Sub-reformists and Sectaries sentence the Doctrine of our Church as damnable, the Atomist, or Familist reprobates all these, and all these them againe. Thus, whilst the mercies of God do promise us heaven, our conceits and opinions exclude us from that place. There must be therefore more than one Saint Peter; particular Churches and Sects usurope the gates of heaven, and turne the key against each other, and thus we goe to heaven against each others wills, conceits, and opinions, and with as much uncharity as ignorance, doe erre I feare in points not onely of our own, but one anothers salvation. (84)
On unexpected salvation:
I beleeve many are saved who to man seem reprobated, and many reprobated, who, in the opinion and sentence of man, stand elected; there will appeare at the last day strange and unexpected examples both of his justice and his mercy, and therefore to define either is folly in man, and insolency even in the devils. (84)
Browne as the humble caboose into heaven:
The number of those who pretend unto salvation, and those infinite swarmes who thinke to passe through the eye of this Needle, hath much amazed me. That name and compellation of little Flocke, doth not comfort but deject my devotion, especially when I reflect upon mine owne unworthinesse, wherein, according to my humble apprehensions I am below them all... Yet is it (I protest) beyond my ambition to aspire unto the first rankes, my desires only are, and I shall be happy therein, to be but the last man, and bring up the Rere in Heaven (85)
Our faith is miniscule:
And if our Saviour could object unto his owne Disciples, and favourites, a faith, that, to the quantity of a graine of Mustard seed, is able to remove mountaines; surely, that which wee boast of, is not any thing, or at the most, but a remove from nothing. (87)
The multitude:
If there be any among those common objects of hatred I doe contemne and laugh at, it is the great enemy of reason, vertue and religion, the multitude; that numerous piece of monstrosity, which taken asunder seeme men, and the reasonable creatures of God; but confused together, make but one great beast, and a monstrosity more prodigious than Hydra. (88)
On the you scratch my back, I scratch yours, kind of charity:
Hee that relieves another upon the bare suggestion and bowels of pity, doth not this so much for his sake as for his own; for by compassioni we make anothers misery our own, and so by relieving them, we relieve our selves also. It is as erroneous a conceite to redresse other mens misfortunes upon that common consideration of mercifull natures, that it may bee one day our own case; for this is a sinister and politick kind of charity, whereby we seem to bespeak the pities of men. (90)
On learning and teaching as charity:
It is no greater Charity to cloath his body, than apparell the nakednesse of his Soule. IT is an honourable object to see th ereasons of other men weare our liveries, and their borrowed understandings doe homage to the bounty of ours... To be reserved and caitif in this part of goodnesse, is the sordidest part of covetousnesse, and more contemptible than pecuniary avarice... I study not for my owne sake onely, but for theirs that study not for themselves. I envy no man that knowes more than my selfe, but pity those than know lesse. (93)
Useless arguments:
I cannot contemne a man for an errour, or conceive why a difference in opinion should divide an affection; for controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in Philosophy and Dvinity, of they meete with discreet and peaceable natures, doe not infringe the Lawes of Charity...
Yea, even amongst wiser militants, how many wounds have beene givene, and credits slaine, for the poore victory of an opinion, or beggerly conquest of a distinction?
Abolishing vice:
They that endeavour to abolish vice destroy also vertue, for contraries, though they destroy one another, are yet the life of one another (96)
On judgment:
No man can justly censure or condemne another, because indeed no man truely knows another... Further, no man can judge another, because no man knowes humselfe, for we censure others but as they disagree from that humour which wee fancy laudable in our selves, and commend them but for that wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with us. (96)
On zeal and charity:
'Tis the generall complaint of these times, and perhaps of those past, that charity growes cold; which I perceive most verified in those which most doe manifest the fires and flames of zeale; for it is a vertue that best agrees with coldest natures, and such as are complexioned for humility. (97)
This is a beautiful section, that I think the author of "When Breath Becomes Air" must have thought about during his residency:
There is I thinke no man that apprehends his owne miseries lesse than my selfe, and no man that so neerely apprehends anothers. I coudl lose an arme without a teare, and with a few groans, mee thinkes, be quartered into pieces; yet I can weepe most seriously at a Play, and receive with a true passion, the coutnerfeit griefes of those knowne and professed impostours. It is a barbarous part of inhumanity to adde unto an afflicted parties misery, or endeavour to multiply in any man, a passion, whose single nature is already above his patience... It is not the teares of our owne eyes onely, but of our friends also, that doe exhaust the current of our sorrowes, which, falling into many streames, runnes more peaceably, and is contented with a narrower channel
July 4, 2023
Maestro de maestros, Browne fue admirado por Carlyle, De Quincey, Coleridge, Poe, Borges, Joyce, Woolf, Sebald... Es todo.
«El corazón humano es el lugar donde habita el diablo; en ocasiones, siento un infierno dentro de mi, Lucifer reúne su corte en mi pecho, la legión revive en mi»
«Los estudiosos son hombres de paz, no llevan armas, pero sus lenguas son más afiladas que la navaja de Actio»
«Los que se empeñan en abolir el vicio destruyen también la virtud, porque los contrarios, aunque entre ellos se aniquilen, no son sino la vida uno del otro»
«La pasión contra la razón, la razón contra la fe, la fe contra el diablo y mi conciencia contra todos»
«Más la corrupción que yo temo es la que está dentro de mí, no el contagio por las relaciones con el exterior»
«En cuanto al mundo, para mí no es una posada sino un hospital, un sitio no para vivir sino para morir»
«Nací en la hora planetaria de Saturno y creo que llevo en mi un trozo del planeta de plomo»
«Todos estamos dormidos en este mundo y que los pensamientos de esta vida son simples sueños respecto a los de la otra, como los fantasmas de la noche respecto a los pensamientos del día»
«De ser mi memoria tan fiel como fecundos son mis pensamientos en esas ocasiones, estudiaria solo en mis sueños y asimismo elegiría ese momento para mis devociones»
«A veces los hombres a la hora de su partida hablan y razonan de una forma superior así mismos»
«Llamamos muerte al sueño y, no obstante, es la vigilia la que nos mata y destruye esos espíritus que son la morada de la vida»
«Hágase tu voluntad, aunque sea para mi destrucción»
«El corazón humano es el lugar donde habita el diablo; en ocasiones, siento un infierno dentro de mi, Lucifer reúne su corte en mi pecho, la legión revive en mi»
«Los estudiosos son hombres de paz, no llevan armas, pero sus lenguas son más afiladas que la navaja de Actio»
«Los que se empeñan en abolir el vicio destruyen también la virtud, porque los contrarios, aunque entre ellos se aniquilen, no son sino la vida uno del otro»
«La pasión contra la razón, la razón contra la fe, la fe contra el diablo y mi conciencia contra todos»
«Más la corrupción que yo temo es la que está dentro de mí, no el contagio por las relaciones con el exterior»
«En cuanto al mundo, para mí no es una posada sino un hospital, un sitio no para vivir sino para morir»
«Nací en la hora planetaria de Saturno y creo que llevo en mi un trozo del planeta de plomo»
«Todos estamos dormidos en este mundo y que los pensamientos de esta vida son simples sueños respecto a los de la otra, como los fantasmas de la noche respecto a los pensamientos del día»
«De ser mi memoria tan fiel como fecundos son mis pensamientos en esas ocasiones, estudiaria solo en mis sueños y asimismo elegiría ese momento para mis devociones»
«A veces los hombres a la hora de su partida hablan y razonan de una forma superior así mismos»
«Llamamos muerte al sueño y, no obstante, es la vigilia la que nos mata y destruye esos espíritus que son la morada de la vida»
«Hágase tu voluntad, aunque sea para mi destrucción»
Read
February 11, 2024I knew as soon as I finished it that I will likely read it again next year
September 11, 2023
Largely vain, pointless, and unnecessary book containing one man's wandering and classical reference-filled verbal diarrhea of his own personal religion opinions.
December 10, 2019
The musings of a 17th century English doctor, on how he came from skepticism to orthodox Anglicism. That path was easier to take in 1642 than it would be today, with all of the competing sources of information we have available.
I wonder if he would have written the book if he had come to any other conclusion - or at least, if he would have been able to publish it in England under his own name. Nevertheless, it's interesting to have a window into the philosophy of a non-philosopher from another century.
I'd rate it interesting, but not recommended unless you have a specific interest in the topic.
I wonder if he would have written the book if he had come to any other conclusion - or at least, if he would have been able to publish it in England under his own name. Nevertheless, it's interesting to have a window into the philosophy of a non-philosopher from another century.
I'd rate it interesting, but not recommended unless you have a specific interest in the topic.
October 30, 2015
Another interesting journal -- a decent man setting down his thoughts on how he sees the world and his role in it.
"I have not [riches] in my desires, but a competence, and ability to perform those good works to which He hath inclined my nature. He is rich, who hath enough to be charitable; and it is hard to be so poor, that a noble mind may not find a way to this piece of goodness."
"I have not [riches] in my desires, but a competence, and ability to perform those good works to which He hath inclined my nature. He is rich, who hath enough to be charitable; and it is hard to be so poor, that a noble mind may not find a way to this piece of goodness."
January 24, 2023
Everything was interesting, until Browne came out with this: ‘The whole world was made for man, but the twelfth part of man for woman: man is the whole world and the breath of God, women the rib and crooked piece of man. I could be content that we might procreate like trees.’ I can't tell if he's serious, you never can, but man, I did not need to read this part.
November 29, 2013
Written in an era when apparently you were supposed to have sentences that last for two or three paragraphs: each sentence containing at least one colon and one semi-colon and as many disqualifiers as is or will be necessary.
Part 2, section 9 contains the "good stuff" and made me laugh a lot....
Part 2, section 9 contains the "good stuff" and made me laugh a lot....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2020
This is one work which has been gradually disappearing out of the literary canon and off reading lists, proving there is justice somewhere.
February 27, 2024
Religio Medici (1642) is found in the third volume of The Harvard Classics. It is the first explicitly religious text in the series - the book is primarily Thomas Browne’s exploration of his devout Christian faith while also being a physician and a Renaissance man during the so-called Age of Reason. The text is short, but I still found my attention wandering because of Browne’s meandering style. I craved more structure. Religio Medici displays the author’s breadth of knowledge on a variety of subjects, at least given the limitations of his time, and his impressive imagination, but I found many of Browne’s arguments to be unconvincing and some of his opinions to be ludicrous. For example on the subject of sex:
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*
Religio Medici is primarily of interest for a view into Christian apologetics and the Renaissance era of Europe. If you are already a nonbeliever, it is unlikely to change your mind. Browne does have a way with words and you may get enjoyment from it purely for the creativeness and occasional beauty of the prose.
The fourth volume of the Harvard Classics is dedicated to the poetical works of John Milton. I have already read Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained , but I am excited to read Milton’s so-called Minor Poems and Samson Agonistes .
As a note: I’ve been making use of Rob Pirie’s podcast and YouTube channel as I tackle the Harvard Classics series.
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[Image: Cover of the Delphi Classics’ The Harvard Classics]
Citation:
Browne, T. (2018). Religio medici. In Charles W. Eliot (Ed.), The Harvard classics (1st edition) [eBook]. Delphi Classics. https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/t... (Original work published 1642)
Title: Religio Medici [The Religion of a Doctor]
Author(s): Thomas Browne
Year: 1642
Series: The Harvard Classics (1909): Volume 3 - Delphi Complete Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction
Genre: Nonfiction - Religion, memoir
Page count: 178 pages
Date(s) read: 2/23/24 - 2/25/25
Book #52 in 2024
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*
“The whole world was made for man, but the twelfth part of man for woman: man is the whole world and the breath of God, woman [is] the rib and crooked piece of man. I could be content that we might procreate like trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to perpetuate the world without this triviall and vulgar way of coition; It is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his life, nor is there any thing that will more deject his coold imagination, when he shall consider what an odde and unworthy piece of folly hee hath committed…” (The second part, section 9)
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Religio Medici is primarily of interest for a view into Christian apologetics and the Renaissance era of Europe. If you are already a nonbeliever, it is unlikely to change your mind. Browne does have a way with words and you may get enjoyment from it purely for the creativeness and occasional beauty of the prose.
The fourth volume of the Harvard Classics is dedicated to the poetical works of John Milton. I have already read Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained , but I am excited to read Milton’s so-called Minor Poems and Samson Agonistes .
As a note: I’ve been making use of Rob Pirie’s podcast and YouTube channel as I tackle the Harvard Classics series.
**
[Image: Cover of the Delphi Classics’ The Harvard Classics]
Citation:
Browne, T. (2018). Religio medici. In Charles W. Eliot (Ed.), The Harvard classics (1st edition) [eBook]. Delphi Classics. https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/t... (Original work published 1642)
Title: Religio Medici [The Religion of a Doctor]
Author(s): Thomas Browne
Year: 1642
Series: The Harvard Classics (1909): Volume 3 - Delphi Complete Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction
Genre: Nonfiction - Religion, memoir
Page count: 178 pages
Date(s) read: 2/23/24 - 2/25/25
Book #52 in 2024
**
March 14, 2024
Religio Medici is, conceivably the most widely held of all the works of Browne. It contains not only a revelation of his faith but also his opinions on varied subjects. The headings of some of the sections will suggest the variety of topics discussed :
1) 'Nature doeth nothing in vain',
2) 'Of miracles',
3) 'Of witchcraft',
4) 'Of guardian and attendant spirits',
5) 'Of marriage and harmony',
6) 'Of sleep',
7) 'Avarice and ridiculous vice’
Though himself an Anglican, Browne is full of empathy for all the Christian sects and of pity for the infidels. Of Catholicism he speaks in very trifling and moderate terms: "I could never hear the Ave-Mary bell," he says "without an elevation."
The expression of his religious views is not characterised by the passionate censures and bitter criticisms which are found in the writings of his great contemporary, Milton. Faith is the sheet-anchor of his religion, faith in the supreme wisdom of God, faith in His eternal mercy and faith in the solidity of the Holy Book.
Reason he discards in favour of faith, for reason does not lead man to the highest truth.
The book is sprinkled with scholarly remarks and references of a widely read scholar. Its style is resonant and stylistic, and its grandeur suits very well the superciliousness of the topics dealt with by its author.
In this tome, Browne gives an authentic picture of himself. The impression which we get derives not only from the information about himself which he deliberately imparts, but also from the manner in which it is conveyed. He is not endeavouring to produce an idealised portrait for his own descendants or for a reading public; when he wrote the book he was still unmarried, and he was an unknown man.
While we're on the subject, ‘Religio Medici’ was first printed without its author's sanction in 1642. It was, however, reissued with his approval in 1643. The author states in the 1643 edition that it was not intended for publication but was "composed at leisurable hours for his private exercise and satisfaction."
But, since the book was published without his knowledge in 1642, he felt obliged to issue a "full and intended copy."
This book is exclusively free from the self-importance and the considered reticences that characterise Gibbon's ‘Autobiography’. Browne's attitude towards himself is a compound of endurance, inquisitiveness and love. Although his method is extremely discurvise, he accumulates a sufficient number of telling details to make a coherent, rich and solid self-portrait. Many things that we should like to know are overlooked, because he was writing primarily for himself; but the private and informal nature of the book enabled him to look at himself progressively and without bias.
1) 'Nature doeth nothing in vain',
2) 'Of miracles',
3) 'Of witchcraft',
4) 'Of guardian and attendant spirits',
5) 'Of marriage and harmony',
6) 'Of sleep',
7) 'Avarice and ridiculous vice’
Though himself an Anglican, Browne is full of empathy for all the Christian sects and of pity for the infidels. Of Catholicism he speaks in very trifling and moderate terms: "I could never hear the Ave-Mary bell," he says "without an elevation."
The expression of his religious views is not characterised by the passionate censures and bitter criticisms which are found in the writings of his great contemporary, Milton. Faith is the sheet-anchor of his religion, faith in the supreme wisdom of God, faith in His eternal mercy and faith in the solidity of the Holy Book.
Reason he discards in favour of faith, for reason does not lead man to the highest truth.
The book is sprinkled with scholarly remarks and references of a widely read scholar. Its style is resonant and stylistic, and its grandeur suits very well the superciliousness of the topics dealt with by its author.
In this tome, Browne gives an authentic picture of himself. The impression which we get derives not only from the information about himself which he deliberately imparts, but also from the manner in which it is conveyed. He is not endeavouring to produce an idealised portrait for his own descendants or for a reading public; when he wrote the book he was still unmarried, and he was an unknown man.
While we're on the subject, ‘Religio Medici’ was first printed without its author's sanction in 1642. It was, however, reissued with his approval in 1643. The author states in the 1643 edition that it was not intended for publication but was "composed at leisurable hours for his private exercise and satisfaction."
But, since the book was published without his knowledge in 1642, he felt obliged to issue a "full and intended copy."
This book is exclusively free from the self-importance and the considered reticences that characterise Gibbon's ‘Autobiography’. Browne's attitude towards himself is a compound of endurance, inquisitiveness and love. Although his method is extremely discurvise, he accumulates a sufficient number of telling details to make a coherent, rich and solid self-portrait. Many things that we should like to know are overlooked, because he was writing primarily for himself; but the private and informal nature of the book enabled him to look at himself progressively and without bias.
October 1, 2024
So this is where fundamentalism finds its source. It sounds very much like 21th century boomers with a higher education who defend the metaphysical mythology of protestant 'theology'. I feel like what Thomas describes as 'heresy' is what Simone Weil would describe as a socially and spiritually desirable condition , i.e. authenticity
The language of Thomas is authentic in the sense that the words he uses reflect the human condition. But it becomes apparant to me that what is pertorted as the individual rationalistic algorithm leading to mystical words such as 'God and gospel' are in fact the dogmatic social rules imposed on the individual person by the collective , falsely tracing its origin to some spontaneous supernatural source
Fundamentalism is the metaphysics of the crowd as understood by platonic interpretation of christian tradition. This is very much in conflict with the message of the bible and ought in my opinion to be treated as heresy (which would include the held beliefs of most of todays religionists)
The only redeeming quality would be that Thomas were writing ironically to appease the crowd , while covertly preaching to the authentic human condition, arguing his actual points in the cover of 'heresy' shielding him from the devils of his time - that would make it a layered masterpiece. However, I doubt this intention, which more obviously strikes me as autistic boomer neurosis in the form of mediocre 17th century prose
Tbc
In summary , the analysis above stands. The read is thought provoking and informative in the pursuit of understanding 'fundamentalism' which is the casual word used by civil Western soeciety when describing the modern stewards of the bible.
I think fundamentalism is a neurosis caused by the reformation, interwoven with the psyche of enlightened european academia from 1600s and forward. It has to explicate the 'Genesis of order' and does this by reference to supernaturalism, "Holy Scripture", "the Word of God", using these terms as euphemisms for the unruly OCD of living adjacent to the expectations of the crowd , still unable to authentically interact with It. In essence, sectarianism. This is in truth what is meant with Platonism - fundamentalism is a christian platonic sect , worshiping the evil god of the crowd , using biblical terminology to cloathe its mythos.
There is , ofcourse , some good elements to be found within its tradition. Perhaps is it a force för good in terms shielding its children from the alternative of nihilistic , destructive individualism.
I am looking for an alternative to both modes of culture. It is realistically achievable , as I have experienced abroad. Only Sweden , seems to be abandoned by the God of authenticity for the last 70 years , as shown in the prophets of our culture; Dag Hammarskjöld , Astrid Lindgren , Ingmar Bergman and Taube. Will there be a prophet raised by the spirit of history to restore the biblical vision in Sweden? Remains to be seen.
The language of Thomas is authentic in the sense that the words he uses reflect the human condition. But it becomes apparant to me that what is pertorted as the individual rationalistic algorithm leading to mystical words such as 'God and gospel' are in fact the dogmatic social rules imposed on the individual person by the collective , falsely tracing its origin to some spontaneous supernatural source
Fundamentalism is the metaphysics of the crowd as understood by platonic interpretation of christian tradition. This is very much in conflict with the message of the bible and ought in my opinion to be treated as heresy (which would include the held beliefs of most of todays religionists)
The only redeeming quality would be that Thomas were writing ironically to appease the crowd , while covertly preaching to the authentic human condition, arguing his actual points in the cover of 'heresy' shielding him from the devils of his time - that would make it a layered masterpiece. However, I doubt this intention, which more obviously strikes me as autistic boomer neurosis in the form of mediocre 17th century prose
Tbc
In summary , the analysis above stands. The read is thought provoking and informative in the pursuit of understanding 'fundamentalism' which is the casual word used by civil Western soeciety when describing the modern stewards of the bible.
I think fundamentalism is a neurosis caused by the reformation, interwoven with the psyche of enlightened european academia from 1600s and forward. It has to explicate the 'Genesis of order' and does this by reference to supernaturalism, "Holy Scripture", "the Word of God", using these terms as euphemisms for the unruly OCD of living adjacent to the expectations of the crowd , still unable to authentically interact with It. In essence, sectarianism. This is in truth what is meant with Platonism - fundamentalism is a christian platonic sect , worshiping the evil god of the crowd , using biblical terminology to cloathe its mythos.
There is , ofcourse , some good elements to be found within its tradition. Perhaps is it a force för good in terms shielding its children from the alternative of nihilistic , destructive individualism.
I am looking for an alternative to both modes of culture. It is realistically achievable , as I have experienced abroad. Only Sweden , seems to be abandoned by the God of authenticity for the last 70 years , as shown in the prophets of our culture; Dag Hammarskjöld , Astrid Lindgren , Ingmar Bergman and Taube. Will there be a prophet raised by the spirit of history to restore the biblical vision in Sweden? Remains to be seen.
October 11, 2022
i know Browne writes brilliantly and some people REALLY like his writing - Woolf for example says those who love his works are the "salt of the earth". i wish i were so saline myself but, at least from the evidence of this text, Browne works best for me in small quantities, i think.
Browne does have some gems. his reflections on medical work and how it is necessarily futile in the long term are interesting (though actually he doesn't talk much about his work. this book is much more Religio than Medici), as are his paeans to love and friendship (and many other things that do not immediately travel to mind - but they're there). one could easily write a homoerotic analysis of some of the later musings but that might not be in the best taste.
also savourable: the medieval air the writing and themes live and breathe. Browne writes post-Reformation and thus post-Middle Ages but the intellectual lines are blurrier than that, I believe. Browne believes very much in witches, for example, and is on the fence about heliocentrism (I feel he is at heart a geocentrist). that has much of the same effect that reading Aristotle had for Kuhn - it demonstrates how much thought has evolved in the past few centuries and shows what it was like to believe things we now simply disregard as ludicrous. (and, actually, Browne at least is interrogative about the heliocentric v geocentric debate. most of us just take this for granted and would be pretty hard pressed to explain why we believe the Earth goes around the Sun, and not the other way round). the way Browne considers and tries to live his religion is also admirable
the problem lies in the fact that Browne never really intended this work for public reading. and I think that means a lot of it just goes on very spurious tangents that the modern reader needs to pretend are interesting; the vast majority of these are theological quibbles that mean quite little to us today, and it's hard to escape the urge to simply skip these passages! (does this admission make me a Philistine?)
so I wasn't in love with this book. some pages had to be endured... but in the end I think the perseverance pays off. it's rare to be able to peer into an age so keenly as Browne allows us to do, and the Baroque construction of his sentences is something that must be seen to be believed. a book to return to after retirement - I am sure beneath the sands of theological niceties there is a geologic depth I have still not uncovered. the immensity of some passages convinces me that this must be true
Browne does have some gems. his reflections on medical work and how it is necessarily futile in the long term are interesting (though actually he doesn't talk much about his work. this book is much more Religio than Medici), as are his paeans to love and friendship (and many other things that do not immediately travel to mind - but they're there). one could easily write a homoerotic analysis of some of the later musings but that might not be in the best taste.
also savourable: the medieval air the writing and themes live and breathe. Browne writes post-Reformation and thus post-Middle Ages but the intellectual lines are blurrier than that, I believe. Browne believes very much in witches, for example, and is on the fence about heliocentrism (I feel he is at heart a geocentrist). that has much of the same effect that reading Aristotle had for Kuhn - it demonstrates how much thought has evolved in the past few centuries and shows what it was like to believe things we now simply disregard as ludicrous. (and, actually, Browne at least is interrogative about the heliocentric v geocentric debate. most of us just take this for granted and would be pretty hard pressed to explain why we believe the Earth goes around the Sun, and not the other way round). the way Browne considers and tries to live his religion is also admirable
the problem lies in the fact that Browne never really intended this work for public reading. and I think that means a lot of it just goes on very spurious tangents that the modern reader needs to pretend are interesting; the vast majority of these are theological quibbles that mean quite little to us today, and it's hard to escape the urge to simply skip these passages! (does this admission make me a Philistine?)
so I wasn't in love with this book. some pages had to be endured... but in the end I think the perseverance pays off. it's rare to be able to peer into an age so keenly as Browne allows us to do, and the Baroque construction of his sentences is something that must be seen to be believed. a book to return to after retirement - I am sure beneath the sands of theological niceties there is a geologic depth I have still not uncovered. the immensity of some passages convinces me that this must be true
September 23, 2024
Part-autobiography, part-creed, and part-religious/philosophical treatise, which is generously sprinkled with poetic, cabalistic, physiological, astrological, hermetic, platonist, and patristic insights, Sir Thomas Browne's 'Religio Medici' stands as one of the most creative and brilliant works of the 17th century and, indeed, one of the greatest Christian personal testimonies of all time along with Newman, Hamann, Traherne, and Augustine.
I came across Browne from my reading about Hamann. Browne (along with Young, Hervey, and Harris) was one of Hamann's favorite English authors. I see a 'vein of gold' stretching forward from Browne to the Cambridge Platonists and also Hamann, and then Blake, MacDonald, Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien, and backward to all the great poets, mystics, and philosophers from the medieval and ancient Christian Church (but, perhaps especially, Donne, Bruno, Cusanus, the Spanish mystics, the author of the 'Cloud of Unknowing,' Bonaventure, the Victorines, Dionysius the Areopagite, Augustine, Origen, and Justin), then even farther backward to Proclus, Plato, and Pythagoras. The vein is a consistent message of loving, divine disclosure with the utter giftedness of being.
Browne is also an incomparable prose stylist. He puts very many sentiments better than any other writer in English, especially when he is ruminating on sleep, dreams, death, and the 'two books' (Scripture and Creation).
I came across Browne from my reading about Hamann. Browne (along with Young, Hervey, and Harris) was one of Hamann's favorite English authors. I see a 'vein of gold' stretching forward from Browne to the Cambridge Platonists and also Hamann, and then Blake, MacDonald, Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien, and backward to all the great poets, mystics, and philosophers from the medieval and ancient Christian Church (but, perhaps especially, Donne, Bruno, Cusanus, the Spanish mystics, the author of the 'Cloud of Unknowing,' Bonaventure, the Victorines, Dionysius the Areopagite, Augustine, Origen, and Justin), then even farther backward to Proclus, Plato, and Pythagoras. The vein is a consistent message of loving, divine disclosure with the utter giftedness of being.
Browne is also an incomparable prose stylist. He puts very many sentiments better than any other writer in English, especially when he is ruminating on sleep, dreams, death, and the 'two books' (Scripture and Creation).
January 17, 2021
Sir Thomas Browne ~ a doctor, philosopher, bibliophile and learned man. His views must have been so revolutionary in 1642, some may say heresy.
This book is somewhat of a personal challenge. The spattering of Latin Verse, along with unfamiliar references, adding to the experience. However the underlying messages exude, traversing the barriers of time.
Sir William Osler, the father of modern medicine, reportedly kept a copy at his bedside throughout his adult life. More so it is said that he requested he be buried with his copy. I wonder if that is because the key to understanding all Browne’s teachings is to revisit this book many many times. Perhaps Osler felt there was enough in this short book to fill the eternity?
I know that I have recorded more notes from this short book than many reference texts used in my studies.
I already look forward to revisiting this in the future.
This book is somewhat of a personal challenge. The spattering of Latin Verse, along with unfamiliar references, adding to the experience. However the underlying messages exude, traversing the barriers of time.
Sir William Osler, the father of modern medicine, reportedly kept a copy at his bedside throughout his adult life. More so it is said that he requested he be buried with his copy. I wonder if that is because the key to understanding all Browne’s teachings is to revisit this book many many times. Perhaps Osler felt there was enough in this short book to fill the eternity?
I know that I have recorded more notes from this short book than many reference texts used in my studies.
I already look forward to revisiting this in the future.
June 3, 2018
Browne's humor and searching mind recommend him as delightful. He was a polymath and apparently a man of infinite curiosity and inquiry. I found myself laughing aloud reading this Theology of a Physician, albeit in an older edition than this one. Also winning is his speculation about Biblical conundrum, like the tree of Eden arising before rain fell or before the herbs of the filed were created. He shows a fresher approach to biblical exegesis than I have ever been able to manifest, possibly because he approached the book on the eve of the Scientific thinking in the midst of a powerful religious fractionalism, the English Civil War.
I may have more to say on this book in the future, but I am also looking forward to reading more of Browne.
I may have more to say on this book in the future, but I am also looking forward to reading more of Browne.
May 7, 2023
The guy can write (or could, I assume he's dead)....and Im on a theology kick and Gass (take em or leave him-he is an enthusiastic reader!...who else can make you want to turn off T. rex and break out the Stein) loves (loved...I know he's dead. what's shocking is he lived to 90...no fat-shaming here). For a theology book the joy is in the writing; I forgot what its even about. Mostly digression. Yeah. And the way the mind works, circles back....no wonder Sebald talks so much about him in the Rings of Saturn...Sebald (car wreck) is a calmer, more sober version of Browne. I wonder if Bernhard (tuberculosis?) ever read this. I bet Marias did (man, a ton of dead people....this is just fucking depressing).
May 31, 2024
Browne is very much what Montaigne would have been like had he been a bit more pious and a tad less cynical. Naturally, then, he's an ideal read for those, such as myself, who value Montaigne's genre, approach, and style, but find his arguments and conclusions somewhat vacuous. Browne puts forth an interesting mixture of orthodox theology, soul-searching meditation, and literary philosophy, and the result is a wonderful read for whenever you want to ponder the Meaning of Life while enjoying some excellent linguistic creativity. Truth be told, you might not take away too many new insights if you're fairly well-read (which you probably should be, as the level of references and allusions is high), but that isn't a problem at all when the essay is such a pleasure to read.
July 31, 2022
The strangely expressed ideas and involved imagery are very similar to the "Metaphysical" poetry of the same century. Browne is worth reading for his broad-mindedness, unexpected in a time of fierce religious and political strife. His generosity of spirit puts 21st century xenophobes and racists to shame: "I feel not in my self those common Antipathies that I can discover in others: those National repugnances do not touch me, nor do I behold with prejudice the French, Italian, Spaniard, or Dutch: but where I find their actions in balance with my Country-men's, I honour, love and embrace them in the same degree".
March 17, 2024
Following on the heels of reading Bacon, I turned to another Renaissance Man of the era. The contrast was not in Browne's favor. Meandering and esoteric, this short treatise attempts to provide some defenses of the Church of England and integrate emerging science into the author's theology. Montaigne and Bacon both demonstrate a similar curiosity about the world but are more direct in their observations and cleaner in their prose. I may revisit at a later date, but for now Browne remains the least accessible of the well-known writers from this era. I am grateful at least it was as short as it was.
November 17, 2024
‘As for those wingy Mysteries in Divinity, and airy subtleties in Religion, which have unhing'd the brains of better heads, they never stretched the Pia Mater of mine.‘
This 17th century anatomically-informed humblebrag might be my favourite sentence read this year.
Browne’s writing reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘John Smith.’ Namely the playful curiosity for the world/god/nature, paired with the writing style of a rambling (but sagacious) old man… A worthwhile read.
This 17th century anatomically-informed humblebrag might be my favourite sentence read this year.
Browne’s writing reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘John Smith.’ Namely the playful curiosity for the world/god/nature, paired with the writing style of a rambling (but sagacious) old man… A worthwhile read.
December 26, 2017
A rambling effusion of personality in gorgeous classical prose. Sir Thomas's active imagination, put the task of defining his personal faith—perhaps best summarized as Anglican orthodox in continual negotiation with the upheavals of his intellectual world—produces the idiosyncratic blend of curiosities, allusions, and pithy statements that are Browne's trademark.
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