Cultural Anatomies of the Heart in Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, and Harvey

This book probes beneath modern scientific and sentimental concepts of the heart to discover its past mysteries. Historical hearts evidenced essential aspects of human existence that still endure in modern thought and experience of political community, psychological mentality, and physical vitality. Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle revises ordinary assumptions about the heart with original interdisciplinary research on religious beliefs and theological and philosophical ideas. Her book uncovers the thought of Aristotle, William Harvey, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvinas it relates to the heart. It analyzes Augustine’s outlaw heart in cultural deviance from biblical law; Aquinas’s problematic argument for the permanence of the natural law in the heart; and Calvin’s advocacy for an affective heart re-created by the Spirit from its fallen nature. This book of cultural anatomies is the climax of her dozen years of publications on the heart. This book probes beneath modern scientific and sentimental concepts of the heart to discover its past mysteries. Historical hearts evidenced essential aspects of human existence that still endure in modern thought and experience of political community, psychological mentality, and physical vitality. Marjorie O?Rourke Boyle revises ordinary assumptions about the heart with original interdisciplinary research on religious beliefs and theological and philosophical ideas. Her book uncovers the thought of Aristotle, William Harvey, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin as it relates to the heart. It analyzes Augustine?s outlaw heart in cultural deviance from biblical law; Aquinas?s problematic argument for the permanence of the natural law in the heart; and Calvin?s advocacy for an affective heart re-created by the Spirit from its fallen nature. This book of cultural anatomies is the climax of her dozen years of publications on the heart Dedication 6 Preface 7 Ancient Realities 8 Medieval Thoughts 14 Early Modern Discoveries 19 Author’s Publications on the Heart 26 Contents 27 Aristotle’s Cardiac Vessel 29 Nature and Crafts 30 Container and Contents 34 Anatomy and Vessels 39 Hearth and Ovens 44 Augustine’s Law of the Heart: Thieves’ Honor 63 Laws 64 Thieves 68 Outlaws 75 Aquinas’s Law of the Heart: Natural Reason 95 Nature 100 Law 108 Contexts 117 Jean Calvin, Heart in Hand 129 The Cloven Heart 130 The Malicious Heart 134 The Contracted Heart 138 The Secure Heart 142 The Sealed Heart 146 The Cured Heart 149 Harvey, by Hercules! The Hero of the Blood’s Circulation 162 Oaths 163 Labors 168 Cleansings 175 Index 195 Front Matter ....Pages i-xxviii Aristotle’s Cardiac Vessel (Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle)....Pages 1-34 Augustine’s Law of the Heart: Thieves’ Honor (Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle)....Pages 35-66 Aquinas’s Law of the Heart: Natural Reason (Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle)....Pages 67-100 Jean Calvin, Heart in Hand (Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle)....Pages 101-133 Harvey, by Hercules! The Hero of the Blood’s Circulation (Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle)....Pages 135-167 Back Matter ....Pages 169-171