Holisztikus vonások Pápai Páriz Ferenc „Pax animae” és „Pax corporis” című műveiben

Abstract

Ferenc Pápai Páriz, son of a puritan pastor and author, Imre Pápai Páriz, was one of the most versatile figures of late 17th, early 18th century Transylvania. He got his M.D. degree in Basel, survived a great plague there, and became one of the true disciples of the famous Professor Henricus Glaserus, one of the victims of this murderous contagious illness. In the very rich list of the Pápai Páriz publications, there are poems, a biblical drama, entitled Isaac and Rebecca, and many medical and theological works. He was the professor of philosophy at the famous Reformed College of Nagyenyed, but the best-known and most widely quoted pieces written by him are the „twin volumes” of The Pax Corporis and Pax Animae. The first one became a very useful medical handbook and collection of therapies for those who were unable to reach or to afford any medical care. And, at the same time, the first one to deal with children’s and women’s diseases. Together with practical medical advice, he always carefully dealt with the problems of the human psyche. And in his Pax animae he was able to concentrate upon body and soul at the same time. That’s why we can call him „the father of holistic thinking and method” in Hungary and Transylvania. This philosophy and practice appears in the laudatory poems written about his books, by contemporary authors. For instance, a close friend and a patient of his, Miklós Tótfalusi Kiss, the well-known printer mentioned the Pax corporis – with great reverence – as „the Bible of the human body.”