The Bible is widely regarded as perhaps the most influential text in the record of human history. Both Judaism and Christianity hold the Bible in high spiritual regard, due to its functions as the basis for these two respective religions. The Bible serves as a single divine anthology, comprised of a series of books that have been meticulously composed by hundreds of authors over hundreds of years (Armstrong 2007). Over the course of human history, the stories, lessons, and parables found within the Bible have had significant impact on societies all around the world. One of the most pertinent and interesting topics found within the Bible is the concept of leprosy. The Bible mentions leprosy in a variety of places, which include segments from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. From the book of Exodus to the holy gospels of Jesus Christ, leprosy is an ever-present aspect of biblical society. The sufferers of leprosy in the Bible often fall under extreme social chastisement and are commonly subject to segregation from society in accordance with ancient scripture (Leviticus 13.46). Due to the common mention of leprosy in the Bible, and the somewhat opaque examination of the disease, a number of key concerns have arisen over the course of the modern era. Through the analysis of what biblical leprosy constitutes, its prominence within Old Testament, and its appearances in the New Testament, readers can more fully understand how biblical leprosy affected the cultural societies of the time.
The true identity of biblical leprosy, and what it defines as within the confines of the Bible are areas of hot debate among scholars. The majority of religious academics generally now accept that the leprosy of biblical times is not what we...
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...nstrates the processes for the analysis of biblical leprosy, the judgements that surround it, and the repercussions sufferers face as a result. With regards to biblical leprosy, things become even more interesting in the fourteenth chapter of Leviticus. The text of chapter fourteen discusses the methods for the purification of leprosy and the leprous infection of inanimate objects. The procedure of purification (as found in Leviticus) was an incredibly intensive ordeal, and the belief that leprosy could spread to objects such as houses was a common mentality held by the people of the time (Howard 2007). Apart from the vast writings of Leviticus, other instances of biblical leprosy can be found in the book of Numbers with the infection of Moses' sister Miriam (Numbers 12.10), and in the second book of Chronicles with the leprosy of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26.19-21).
In 1348, religious authorities determined that the immodest behavior of certain groups led to outbreaks of ubiquitous plague. The tendency to regard indecency as the cause of plague is displayed in records of the day. Henry Knighton’s description of a guilty crowd attending the tournaments is a telling example. He laments that, “they spent and wasted their goods, and (according to the common report) abused their bodies in wantonness and scurrilous licentiousness. They neither feared God nor blushed at the criticism of the people, but took the marriage bond lightly and were deaf to the demands of modesty” (130). As one can gather from this passage, the 1348 religi...
In said section, Gomes analyzes the Bible verses that Christians believe to have homosexual implications. Eventually, Gomes uses his personal interpretation of what the verses could mean along with historical context, to explain that the Church should not harbor any hatred or negative opinions to those practicing homosexuality. The other sections of, “The Use and Abuse of the Bible”, give In, “True and Living Word”, Gomes introduces the readers to a variety of topics and attempts to explain how the Bible relates to them. These topics are: The Bible and... The Good Life, Suffering, Joy, Evil, Temptation, Wealth, Science, and Mystery.
Just as Arthur Miller, the writer of “The Crucible”, said, “Sex,sin, and the devil were early linked” (Miller,1125). During the AIDS hysteria, homosexual intercourse was thought to be the cause of widespread immune deficiency, so the disease was soon labeled “Gay Men’s Health Crisis” (“History of HIV and AIDS”). As time progressed AIDS, it was discovered, could also be spread through heterosexual couples(“History of HIV and AIDS”). This
Even with the grueling pain that the dark swells and the large tumors brought with them, to the Jews, this pain was the not the worst. The Black Plague was a killer disease from 1348-1351 that spread all throughout Europe. At this time, the Jews were despised in their communities because most of them took the occupation of money-lending. This job was considered unholy and the people of Europe looked down upon the Jews because of it. The Black Plague created a more hostile environment for the Jewry of Europe because of the newly founded flagellants, the Jewish ghettos, and the increased attacks on Jews.
Finally Placher ends his article with the explanation of the Bible giving the reader a new language and mindset to describe the world around them. When a person uses the language that is present in the Bible instead of the language that is of the world their minds change, for example an “action wasn’t just ‘inappropriate’ or even a ‘crime’ it was ‘sin’” (928). Through such examples Placher proves that “to trust the Bible” is to “let it define our world and provide a language for thinking about the world”
Romanus describes the effects of the disease on lepers and demoralizing effects of leprosy, highlighting how those inflicted with the disease were cured by Christ and why.
The past hundred years have been lauded for the discovery of countless life-saving treatments for a plethora of ailments, that were considered fatal not long ago. However, for every disease such as polio and malaria that we have eradicated, we have also developed definitions and treatments for conditions for which there is little known biological basis. This allows for the illness itself to be used as a societal tool to specify what is considered natural, and to classify people that lie outside of that norm. This is reflected in attitudes throughout recorded history, ranging from the Bible, where leprosy is ascribed to non-believers of Christianity, to the Salem Witch Trials, where the fringes of society that were considered deviant were systematically
Throughout the ages, while the origins to this day continue to be debated, the strength and potency of the disease have rarely been in question. Syphilis, while not viewed as a huge threat due to a decreased number of cases in the mid-late 1990s, needs to be taken more seriously by the public because it is more dangerous than many realize, especially because it is extremely contagious, it is extremely elegant in the symptoms it produces, it has played a larger part in history than many would think, and there is a certain stigma which surrounds the disease, which in turn pushes individuals away from receiving the necessary testing.
The Plague (French, La Peste) is a novel written by Albert Camus that is about an epidemic of bubonic plague. The Plague is set in a small Mediterranean town in North Africa called Oran. Dr. Bernard Rieux, one of the main characters, describes it as an ugly town. Oran’s inhabitants are boring people who appear to live, for the most part, habitual lives. The main focus of the town is money. “…everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business’” (Camus 4). The citizens’ unawareness of life’s riches and pleasures show their susceptibility to the oncoming plague. They don’t bother themselves with matters not involving money. It is very easy for the reader to realize that they are too naive to combat the forthcoming calamity. The theme of not knowing life is more than work and habits will narrow the people’s chances of survival. Rieux explains that the town had a view of death as something that happens every day. He then explains that the town really doesn’t face towards the Mediterranean Sea. Actually it is almost impossible to see the sea from town. Oran is a town which seems to turn its back on life and freedom. The Plague was first published in 1948 in France. “Early readers were quick to note that it was in part an allegory of the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944, which cut France off from the outside world; just as in the novel the town of Oran must close its gates to isolate the plague” (“The Plague” 202). When the plague first arrives, the residents are slow to realize the extreme danger they are in. Once they finally become aware of it...
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
There is a lot to prove that Paneloux first sermon contains a lot of bad ideas. Even though God does bring His wrath out on the world a lot in the Bible, the plague is mos...
The negative view of the female sex continues in Leviticus, in a section dictating the re...
...pse." In Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation, edited by W. Klaasen and G.F. Snyder, 23-37. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1962.
Now the clock ticked on several fronts: The gradual loss of religious freedom, whisked in a one-world church coupled with global governmental rule already firmly established as wars broke out all over the world. Although these and others were biblically implied events, the looming killer microbe (from the heavens) readied itself for pandemonium. Could it be that they were about to experience a ‘pestilence’ in biblical proportions? Not enough time remained to worry about being cool in the delivery of such an urgent message.
In this essay, I will explain how religion is sometimes used to mobilize against LGBT people, how some people’s religious and personal doctrines conflict regarding LGBT issues, and how religious belief and community can be a positive force for the LGBT community. In history, mainstream Abrahamic religions have had a negative relationship with LGBT persons. Beginning during the Hebrew exodus of Egypt, the purity codes documented in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Leviticus explicitly stated a slew of rigid rules that attempted to keep a new Israelite nation “clean”. As William Countryman argues in the article “Dirt, Greed, & Sex”, the Bible sets a precedent for what is “clean” and pure as well as what is “dirty”. In this sense, dirty means where something doesn’t belong, or is out of place.