I recently read Lynne Cheney’s new biography – James Madison: A Life Reconsidered. I thought I would be taking a Sabbath from theological considerations and indulge in my second love – American history. But I was wrong. Early on Cheney tells us of Madison’s lifelong struggle with “sudden attacks,” most likely a form of epilepsy, that often left him debilitated for days. As a student at Princeton, Madison sought to understand the source of his malady. He consulted medical texts and biblical commentaries. The scientific explanation for his disease was an excess of black bile secreted by the kidneys. Remedies included a mixture of mercury, arsenic, and antimony. The biblical explanation for his disease, which was supported by the Princeton faculty, was demon possession (Matthew 17:14-18; Mark 9:17-26; Luke 9:42). The King James Version of the Bible, which he consulted, referred to sufferers as “lunatics.”
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