Medicine as a sacred vocation.

This brief survey examines the concept of medicine as a sacred vocation by examining its origins, manifestations, and development in history. In the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, the practice of medicine was considered a sacred vocation because, like the practice of religion, it sought to preserve life. Moreover, it involved a specialized knowledge and the power of healing, both of which were associated with the sacred and the divine. In Classical Antiquity, the Hippocratic innovations in medicine used human reason and creativity to study the nature of disease. Men vowed to protect the sanctity of their profession and to serve their patients in accord with the highest ethical standards. From the Middle Ages to the contemporary period, Christianity offered the Western world another paradigm in which service of neighbors was equated with service of God. These historical traditions begin the conversation of medicine as a sacred vocation.