Blessed Niels Stensen, scientist, Catholic convert, and bishop of the seventeenth century

Abstract

The volume is number 117 in the collection Philosophy and Medicine, English translation of the second edition of the German work Radius in manu Dei: Ethos und Bioethik in Wer und Rezeption des Anatomen Niels Stensen (1638-1686), published in Munich by Aschendorff in 2014. Frank Sobiech holds a doctorate in Catholic theology from the University of Münster (Germany). The work he presents also reflects his background in history, Latin and law. In the presentation of the book, Cardinal Getrhard Ludwing Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in those years, already refers to the value of the almost unknown figure of Niels Stensen, beatified by John Paul II in 1988. Danish anatomist, Protestant converted to the Catholic faith (1667), ordained priest (1675) and bishop (1677). His person combines the scientific spirit and the ethical sense of the physician with the theological and pastoral perspectives of the priest. To him we owe discoveries in anatomy (salivary duct that bears his name, ovary in the human species) and contributions in paleontology and stratigraphy. In the preface, the author notes that he is presenting a historical-theological study that describes for the first time Stensen’s ethics (ethos), its implications for medical ethics and theology, and its reception by physicians and naturalists from the 17th century to the present day. The study deals mainly with Stensen’s thought on human reproduction, sexual ethics, the beginning of life and the animation of the embryo. Along with this we find interesting and detailed contributions, of a biographical type, about his personal experiences, first as a researcher and later as a pastor. Also important is the description of the cultural context in which Stensen’s life developed. The study is the result of a careful analysis of Stensen’s own writings and those of his contemporaries.