Russell Shorto Quote
Relying on physical remedies alone was often seen as downright ungodly: in England, Puritan minister John Sym advised caution that people dote not upon, nor trust, or ascribe too much to physical means; but that we carefully look and pray to God for a blessing by the warrantable use of them. To do otherwise—to rely on a physic or powder alone—would be to put the material above the spiritual. That was why a strictly mechanical approach to medicine was considered dangerously atheistic.
Russell Shorto
Relying on physical remedies alone was often seen as downright ungodly: in England, Puritan minister John Sym advised caution that people dote not upon, nor trust, or ascribe too much to physical means; but that we carefully look and pray to God for a blessing by the warrantable use of them. To do otherwise—to rely on a physic or powder alone—would be to put the material above the spiritual. That was why a strictly mechanical approach to medicine was considered dangerously atheistic.
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About Russell Shorto
In November 2017, he published Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, which tells the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of six Americans from vastly different walks of life.
His most recent work is Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob, published in February 2021. The book is a memoir, covering Shorto's own family history and his ancestors involvement in the American Mafia in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
In 2022, Shorto founded, and became Director of, the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society, with a mission to promote awareness of New York's Dutch origins.