More handpicked essays just for you.
Discuss the social determinants of health
Article review of the black death
Explain the effects of socio-economic influence on health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Christian and Muslim responses to the Black Death were vastly different. Christians believed that the Black Death was a punishment from God, while the Muslims believed Black Death was a blessing. Although vastly different there were some similarities, both believed it came from God, both believe that it was caused or carried by the wind and a prevention was to build fires and fumigate. The similarities did not compare to the contrast of these two religious group’s reactions to the Black Death. The Christian population diminished rather quickly at an astonishing rate of thirty three percent as stated in document two. In document three Chronicler Agnolo di Tura says that everyone in Italy was stupefied by all of the deaths, members of the same …show more content…
household would have to bring their dead to the ditches and dropped them off. People were petrified of everything happening. First the Christians believed it was a punishment for sin, so the Christians prayed, asking for the plague to go away nothing happens. Christians then blame the Jews for poisoning wells, making that assumption led to Christians burning Jews for a crime that they never committed. Next, the Pope intervenes and says that the Jews never did any of the crimes that the Christians said they were doing. The peace then returns between these two and Christians go back to praying for the Black Death to go away. The Muslim part of the population was diminished at about the same speed. The Muslim population looked at the Black Death as a blessing just like anything else that came from God. Even though the Black Death was looked at as a blessing does not mean it was not feared. At this time period everyone was terrified by the thought of them catching the plague, families were torn apart by the plague, brothers turned against each other and fathers and mothers abandoned their children while the elders were left to perish. The Black Death was so terrible that at one point in time, Muslims believed that it was the apocalypse and the end of the human race. Unlike the Christians, Muslims never blamed another religion or race for the Black Death. Muslims accepted and helped out other unassimilated people, treating them as just another human being. Even though these two religions had sizable differences in how they reacted, there were still some small similarities between the two.
The Black Death did not differentiate one religion from another, so the plague spread throughout Europe and the Middle East like wildfire not stopping until it reached the Pacific ocean. Christians and the Muslims were both terrified by the plague not being able to see it, know where it is coming from, why it is happening, or how to rid yourself of it, this was a scary thought. The death rate of the plague was around thirty two percent as it was stated in document two. Maybe the cause of this was the beliefs about the causes and prevention of it. One similar cause was the winds carrying contaminated air, two prevention that were similar was drinking an Armenian clay tablet and building fires to fumigate. Christians and Muslims at one point in time rebelled against the king. Then all of the religions assembled together for a night of prayer in the Great mosque as talked about in document nine. Christians and Muslims were indeed vastly different in their reactions to the Black Death, backed up by many facts given throughout this paper. Hopefully the reader finds it fascinating that religion in this time period made all of the conclusions instead of fact based science which is used today, but nonetheless most importantly realizes that the Black Death failed in its attempt to take out the human
race.
...se of the plague’s presence by delimiting impious behavior according to biblical law, and condemning displays of impropriety. Individuals who failed to adhere to religious dictates regarding frugality and matrimony were blamed for ushering in the disease. Those who ignored social conventions regarding decent dress and gender codes were also accused of inciting God’s wrath and bringing society to ruin. According to excerpts of Rosemary Horrox’s The Black Death, the religious message of 1348 states that human pain and suffering are divine punishment for decadence, licentiousness, and frivolity. It is interesting to note that religious leaders of the 21st century state much the same thing regarding catastrophic events. This leads one to conclude that standards of propriety and decorum will always remain an inherent part of any religious diagnosis for societal ailments.
Faith in religion had fallen because the prayers of the people were not answered. The people even thought that it was god whom had unleashed this deadly disease. One piece of evidence that I used stated,” Some felt that the wrath of God was descending upon man, and so fought the plague with player (Document 6).” Another piece of evidence stated,” Faith in religion decreased after the plague, both because of the death of so many of the clergy and because of the failure of prayer to prevent sickness and death (Document 6).”
Therefore, the responses of Christians and Muslims to the Black Death greatly differed from each other. Responses to this calamity are different because of faith and world perspectives. Both thinking that it was their God’s will, they accepted it, but thought it was brought upon them for varying reasons. Of course, nowadays, doctors and scientist know it is from bacterial strain, and with the increasingly advanced technology, it will hopefully be prevented if another outbreak ever occurs again.
Both Europeans and Islamic empires experienced the Black Death. However, regions affected by the disease reacted in various ways and differed in reasons for the cause of the disease. Muslims were peaceful, accepted the Black Death as a blessing from God, and were proactive in suggesting causes of the disease. In contrast, Europeans blamed and burned Jews for the plague, rebelled against authority, and saw the illness as a punishment for sins. Even though Christians and Muslims believe in the same God, the responses and actions of both regions toward the Black Death differed immensely.
Christian and Muslim responses were vastly different on the bubonic plague based on what people thought caused it, prevention methods, and viewpoints. And with common knowledge of the religions’s relationship with each other today, it is easy to see how the responses would be different. The biggest difference has to do with perspective from citizens. These religions saw different things and got different feelings towards all the fatalities and infection that surrounded them.Christians got hit very hard by the effects of the plague emotionally and physically while Muslims seemed to handle the plague fairly well emotionally, however, the mortality rate in either place was still high and around the same percentage. Not saying that Muslims did not suffer from the plague, just about anybody that watches people they love die in any way, mourn and feel pain from it.
The epidemic rarely left survivors when they became infected. Many would die in less than three days. Priests in both of the two major religions now believed fully that the end of the world was eminent and the only way they could be saved was through prayer and asking God for forgiveness. There are examples of multiple prayers in the text Discovering the Global Past. All of them involve asking God to forgive the whole population and ask him many times to spare the one praying and any member of the population not yet infected. They also considered anyone who had died from the disease to be a martyr because they were killed by God punishing not them necessarily, but the whole
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
The Islamic world had suffered at least five major plague epidemics before the Black Death in the 14th century, yet the Black Death was far more deadly than any of the previous epidemics that had hit the Islamic world. Medieval Muslims had no scientific explanation for the disease and thus Islamic societies began to believe that the plague was of divine origin. Religious teachers declared that for the righteous Muslim death by plague was a blessing, a martyrdom like death in defense of Islam, which ensured the victim a heavenly reward. For the infidel death by plague was considered a punishment for sin that condemned one to hell. As with all acts of Allah, the pestilence seen as just, merciful, good, and could not be avoided. Since God specifically chose each victim, there could be no random spreading of the disease by contagion, nor could one escape death by flight or medication. From these views, Muslims formed three basic tenets for coping with the plague: The disease was a mercy and martyrdom from God for the faithful Muslim but a punishment for the infidel, a Muslim should neither enter nor flee a plague-stricken land, and there was ...
Dols’ argument that Christians overreacted during the Black Death in comparison to the Muslims does not seem like a fair analysis. As Stearns’ argues, the Christian and Muslim societies are completely different in terms of religion, social structure and knowledge of the Black Death. Dols’ fails to take into account the major differences that may have discouraged the Muslims from reacting similarly to the Christians, which makes his argument weak in my opinion. Thus, I do not support Dols’ argument because it fails to consider why Christians reacted violently.
The Black Death plagues had disastrous consequences for Europe in the 14th century. After the initial outbreak in Europe, 1347, it continued for around five years and then mysteriously disappeared. However it broke out again in the 1360s and every few decades thereafter till around 1700. The European epidemic was an outbreak of the bubonic plague, which began in Asia and spread across trade routes. When it reached Europe, a path of destruction began to emerge. Medieval society was tossed into disarray, economies were fractured, the face of culture and religion changed forever. However the plagues devastation was not all chaotic, there were benefits too, such as modern labour movements, improvements in medicine and a new outlook on life. Therefore in order to analyse the impact the Black Death had on societies in the 14th century, this essay will consider the social, economic, cultural and religious factors in order to reach an overall conclusion.
For the most part, Christians and Muslims had very different ideas concerning the plague. There are three main differences Christians and Muslims had on the plague. First, Christians and Muslims differed on how it got started. Second, they did not agree on whether or not it was really a sign from God. Finally, they disagreed on the different techniques needed to stop the plague from spreading. While Christians and Muslims agreed on some points, there were more differences than similarities.
During the Middle Ages, people didn’t have scientific equipment like microscopes to examine the organisms. So they concluded causes for the Black Death with unsupported evidence. Many physicians and doctors said it was in the air. It was inevitable to catch the Black Death as they claimed. Physicians describe the plague like a ‘tide of death’ (Addison et al, 2012. Page 299). However, the Church said it was the wrath of God. The priests explained that people had sinned which included sins of greed, sins of pride, sins of thieving, sins of envy, sins of lying and sins of anger. An uncommon cause was that people thought that the movement of the stars would tell when plague struck while some places even belie...
The Black Death was a devastating disease that had killed 25 million people in 5 years. Thinking about the number of 25 million people is devastating enough. These people did not have the knowledge and technology we have today. Therefore, when people were getting sick in China, they weren’t able to communicate with those in Europe about this deadly disease heading their way. When it did finally reach Europe, they didn’t know what to do about this disease. Without the knowledge of prevention, they could have kept the disease secluded in an area, but instead, the disease spread from country to another country. Even charitable places such as monasteries tried to aid for the sickly but were quickly wiped out. That would bestow panic across Europe.
The Black Death is estimated to have been arisen in the dry plains of Central Asia, whereupon it had spread along the Silk Road, getting to Crimea in 1346. From Crimea, it was caught by Oriental rat fleas which had been living on black rats that regularly went on merchant ships. Spreading through Europe and the Mediterranean, the Black Death has been estimated to have infected and killed about 30-60% of Europe’s population. The Black Death had made the world population go down from 450 million all the way down to 350 million thro...
Christianity and Islam were different in The Black Death. in 1348 christianity and islam came face to face with The Black Death. Everybody responded to it differently. The cause of The Plague is still debating on today by historians. Most people believed it was caused by bacterial strains. Doctors weren't familiar with the bacteria and viruses. The strains lived in the stomach of fleas that live in the fur of rodents, most likely black rats. It wasn't the first time The Plague spread across part of the world but would be more deadly. When The Black Death hit Europe and the Middle East in the 14th century the big focus was religion's for most people especially christianity and Islam.