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God's Role In The Black Death

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Gods’ Hand in Devastation
In the sixteenth century, a highly infectious disease known as the Black Plague, began to spread across the shores of Europe. The term the Black Plague was quickly recognized and feared by all Europeans. In just a short amount of time the disease had spread throughout the entire continent of Europe, killing roughly fifty percent of Europeans. Those who survived the disease were left wondering “why did this happen?”. The survivors could not wrap their heads around the amount of innocent lives that were taken, and the devastation left behind by the plague. The pandemic changed people’s lives forever, and for many changed what they believed in. No matter what religion a person followed, he/she was searching for answers. Christians and Muslims had very different views on why God would inflict such devastation on his people, but they both agreed on the idea the God’s hand played the ultimate role in the disaster. Christians responded to the devastation by claiming God inflicted the plague to rid the world of sin, whereas Muslims believed God …show more content…

Muslims did not believe in the idea of ordinal sin. They did not believe humanity had committed a great act of sin, and therefore they did not believe that God created the Black Death as a means of punishment. Muslims viewed the Black Death as more of a natural disaster in which God did not try to prevent. Additionally, Muslims believed that the Black Death served as a martyrdom for those individuals who were truly committed to their faith. Ibn al-Wardi, of Aleppo, Syria states in an essay on the Report of the Pestilence “When a Muslim endures misfortune, then patience is in his worship.” This refers to the idea that God created the plague to discern those who were strong in their faith and willing to be martyrs. He continues on with idea stating that true believers would seek refuge in God and trust in His plan for

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During the Black Plague, the Muslims didn’t look to their God for answered to the death that was laid upon them, but they accepted it. In fact, praying the plague away is abominable, because it is a blessing from God; at the least, a Muslim should eagerly accept the divine act. (Document 4) …. Although the Muslims

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I will be explaining how the Christians and Muslims responded and the Jewish situation/reformation and the dawn of scientific inquiry. When the Christians were struck by the Black Death they thought God was punishing them. The Christians were crying and praying for forgiveness as they thought is was their sins that caused all illness as it states on document 4. The Christians were asking for help from Jesus. They asked

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Most of the known world was devoured by the most notorious epidemic in history. In the 1351 , the infamous Black Death began to chew up and spit out Europe along with Asia and Africa as if being a victim of the Black Death once wasn’t horrific enough, The Great Pestilence hit Europe for the second time in the 18th century, along side that, in the 20th century Asia and Africa were revisited by The Great Plague. According to the background essay, “In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the population it encountered.” During the time of the gruesome Black Death, two religions were widely practiced in this region of the world, Christianity and Islam. These were two religions with some different views and reasoning for this merciless period of terror and death.

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During the epidemic of the Salem Witch Trials, that took place during 1692, 19 people were sentenced to death. Even though this occurred many centuries ago, there are several examples of epidemics that occur in our society today. The Crucible and Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ WHO leader says are both examples of texts that clearly show the theme of epidemic. In The Crucible, there were many people that were accused and punished for witchcraft. In the article Zika virus, it talks about the Zika virus and how quick it’s spreading.

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The Black Death The two faiths, Christianity and Islamic, approach the black death in similar ways religiously, medically, and in dealing with the Jews. Religiously the faiths saw the plague as a curse. The Muslims thought of the black plague as a blessing from god. (Document 4, 6, 8) the Muslims and the Christians have their own opinions of what they think the Black Death is.

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Christian responses are seen to be greatly different from Muslim reactions. Christians perceived the plague as a curse from God. Believed to have committed too many sins, the Christians prayed and pleaded to be forgiven. Once the plague had overtaken the Christians lives, they decided to flee and morals began to break down because they realized the church was not helping them get better. The most major part in some opinions was the burning of the Jews.

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People grew more and more concerned with contracting the disease that they would try to isolate themselves, “… and human aid was as vail as it was destructive to those who approached the infected.” ( Hecker, J. C., & Babington, B. G., pg 6) This quote shows the tremendous devastation that the plague caused since once the person was infected there was very little that could be done to save that person and in turn the risk that people faced when attempting to help someone would only kill them. The concern with contacting the disease was so terrifying since they would die a painful death that even mothers and fathers would abandon their children as soon as they discovered that they were infected. (DeWitte, S., & Slavin,

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The Christians thought the Lord was punishing them with the disease, and that when the Lord was enraged to embrace in acts of penance, so that you do not stray from the right path and parish. The Christians pray to their Lord and ask what they should do? A great number of saintly sisters of the Hotel Dieu, who did not fear to die, nursed the sick in all sweetness and humility, with no thought of honor, a number too often renewed by death, rest in peace with Christ, as we may piously believe. People began to think the Jews were guilty for the disease. The Muslims looked at praying for the disease to go away in disgust, because they believe the plague is a blessing from God.

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The Black Death was a disease that had a catastrophic impact on Europe. Reaching Europe in 1347, the plague killed an estimation of one-third of the population in the first wave. Each document varies with its reasons for the cause of the plague and how to deal with it. The first document Ordinances against the Spread of Plague seemed to blame Pisa and Lucca for the plague and thus, began to forbid contact with those places. It was forbidden for citizens of Pistoia to go to, or have contact with anyone or anything from Pisa or Lucca.

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The epidemic affected Europe culturally, as the citizens developed an excessive reliance on religion as an answer for their tragedy. Additionally, the Black Death shifted the people’s social perspectives; they lost compassion for the sick and indulged in selfish desires. Finally, the pestilence altered the Europeans’ mental state, as their appreciation of life itself diminished, since the rapid spread of the plague caused torrential death rates across Europe. In response to the Black Death, the people of Europe became passionately pious, for they viewed their misfortune as a punishment from God and, thus, believed the only way to bring about continental happiness was through religion.

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Some people believed that the plague came because of the sins committed in that town or city. As a result of this belief, Flagellants emerged. This group of people would publicly whip themselves in order to receive forgiveness of their sins and prevention of the plague. Others had a different view. Many people believed that the Jews, a non-Christian people, had poisoned their water, causing the plague.

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The Black Death: Were Muslims and Christians responses different? When it comes to dealing with The Black Death, the way Christians and Muslims handled the situation was very different. Christians and Muslims did not even make it look similar to each other when dealing with the plague it was so different. Before the Plague hit Europe almost everything especially things of daily life were under the influence of the church. The most important thing from this was that the church always taught right from wrong.

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As christians the way to interpret the plague is that God must have had a reason to send it over to venice, you can’t have a large scale plague for no reason, partly because of the fall, we live in a toxic environment. The other reason was probably to test the people and to see who stayed true to their morals or completely disregarded them as a whole. As one of my video notes states the plague was a murderous purge, maybe God wanted to purge mankind of some of the general evilness and slow down the progression of sin, so the world would have an extra thousand-some years to continue out God’s plan. plus the sanitation of that era wasn’t the most appealing, they threw waste out in the streets and the spores of the waste flew around and made the air toxic. It is a common conception that the air after some

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In “The Great Plague” by Boccaccio the reader is presented with the idea that the great plague was somehow a punishment of the lord for people’s sins. This is very interesting as it is a belief that many people had during the medieval times, to think that so many people were dying just because they had done something wrong shows their lack of understanding about the spread of disease and their belief in god. Most of the people that were worried about gods punishment were the common folk, because according to the reading most the people that were worried about the disease left their sheep, animals, and crops thinking that they were living their last days. Because these people where common folks they didn’t receive as much education as other

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Most people saw it as a punishment from God. Jews were executed and accused of causing the plague by poising town

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