Preview of Dear and Glorious Physician Summary:

Since Luke (or Lucanus) is portrayed more as a physician than an evangelist, it is safe to conclude that Caldwell has a strong interest in the theme of medicine itself, an interest that would resurface in Testimony of Two Men (1968). In the preface to Dear and Glorious Physician, she decries Justinian's destruction of the Library at Alexandria because it shut off forever the knowledge of Babylonian science. The Babylonians, she notes with conviction, used electricity in a very sophisticated manner, used a kind of ore for the cure of cancer and employed hypnotism in psychosomatic medicine. Initially, Lucanus does not know the source of his healing powers, and this, whether directly from God or not, is further indicative of Caldwell's long-standing interest in the occult.