Philippa Koch's The Course of God's Providence examines the ways that Providence factored into writing about medicine in eighteenth-century America. The book centers on religious writing but is structured thematically around various aspects of medicine, including sickness, debates about treatments and inoculation, benevolent responses to epidemic disease, and maternity. During an era associated with increased secularization, Koch argues, Providence remained a crucial framework for thinking about health and charitable responses to it.
The opening chapter looks at how two ministers, Cotton Mather and the German pietist Samuel Urlsperger, instructed the pious to respond to physical suffering. Providence provided succor, but it also served as a tool for reflecting on and repenting for past sins. This chapter centers on pastoral manuals, while the subsequent one turns to letters and journals to recover how advice in manuals, most especially concerning repentance and consolation, were reflected in personal writing about illness. The author's...