Compare And Contrast Christian Response To The Black Plague Dbq

During the time when the Black Plague struck there were two main religions in the world, Christianity and Islam. Christianity follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, God’s son. The book of the Christian is the Bible. The religion of Islam deals with submission to God, and following the teachings of Mohammed, which are spelled out in the Koran (The DBQ Project, Background Essay). An interesting topic that one might discover of this time is, how did these two religions react to the plague. Could it be possible that they acted as everyone else did at that time, or did they hold strong to their beliefs? When they Black Plague struck, the Christians and the Muslims had similar ways of dealing and responding to it.

Christian and Muslim responses to the Black Death. Indeed the Christian and Muslims specifically believed it was a punishment from God. For instance the muslims on the other hand thought if it was from God it has to be good. The christian people believed that God was punishing them for sinning. The plague killed 25 - 45% of the populations it came in contact with. They both had some similarities in trying to prevent the Christians and Muslims from getting the Black Death.

In 1346 European traders began to hear reports about earthquakes, floods, locusts, famine, and plague in faraway China. They knew very little then that the plague they were hearing about would follow the same trade routes to the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe that they themselves used. (doc. 1) In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered. (doc 2) So how different were the Christian and Muslim responses? In 1348 Christianity and Islam came face to face with the Black Death. (doc. 3A) In truth, Muslims and Christians responded in many different ways. Their ideas for what caused the Black Death were somewhat different from each other also. Even the way they thought they could cure the

Religion has always been a major theme in history, and even now does not fail to play an important role. The desire to gain more believers and convert people makes up the base of the reason for the differences in Muslim and Christian responses the Black Plague. As Gabriele de Mussis, a Christian chronicler during the Black Death, states, “I am overwhelmed, I can’t go on!...The hand of the Almighty strikes repeatedly to greater and greater effect.” On the contrary, Muhammad al Manbiji, an Islamic scholar, said that “…the plague is a blessing from God; at the least, a Muslim should devoutly accept the divine act.” (doc. 4) These two viewpoints of the plague are complete opposites; Christians are overwhelmed that their population is dying out while Muslims are accepting it as a blessing that their rival religion is suffering. These documents were combined to emphasize the contrast between

Europeans used other religions as a reason for the start of the Black Death whereas Islamic empires did not blame other religions, but had explanations that caused the disease. Christians blamed Jews for the appearance of the Black Death. Michael Kleinlawl, a Christian poet, wrote that it was clear the Jews were to blame for the Black Death, resulting in the burning of Jews (Document 7). Christians believed terminating the source of the Black Death,

In the year 1348 the world changed forever. The Black Death, which is another name for the Bubonic Plague, laid havoc on the entire world. “The plague chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a treasure for a ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with all of its inhabitants…” (Al-Wardi, #29, 113). The plague did not care if the people were rich, poor, white, black, Muslim or Catholic, it would kill whomever it could. The plague brought out the worst in people because people acted selfishly, people were completely inhumane, and there was no peace.

As a result of the Black Death, Christians and Muslims were the major religions to respond to this event. One would still say, people do not know much about the Bubonic plague. To repeat, Christians were the ones to take this event to the next level, when they started burning the Jews. Muslims just thought of it has a blessing. Muslims was the ones to bring all ethnic groups together in worship and prayer after the plague. Readers would think of it has help to one another or more like allies. For this it proves that religions respond to things different than

The Black Death was a plague carried by fleas on rats and it was very deadly. It started in the mid-14th century. The Black Death did not discriminate, anyone could get it. Religion was at its all time high during the time the Plague arrived in Europe. Two major religions that got the Black Death were Christians and Muslims. Muslims got the Plague in 1333 and Christians got the Plague in 1348 but their responses to the Black Death were greatly different but sometimes they were the same.

During the time of the second pandemic in Europe, most commonly known as the Black Death, religion has played a big part in people’s lives. Different views, opinions, and approaches where practiced not only by the predominant Christian culture at that time, but also by other religious sectors, such as Islam. In the books Plagues in World History and The Black Death, by John Aberth, the diverse reception, both hopeful and adverse, to the pandemic was explored and discussed for better understanding of the religious structure of the time. The aim of this paper is to examine and discuss those different religious responses and changes during the Black Death of the 14th century. This will be done by doing explaining detailed actions of different

Muslims thought it a different way towards the Black death then Christianity. Muslims thought it was a blessing additionally thought it was because of the sins from Jesus. When things got bad they allowed everybody (Christians,Muslims, and Jews) to go to church and pray. Praying was away to get away from the problem and ask Jesus for help.

The Christian and Muslim responses to the Black Death differed greatly. The believed causes for the tragedy differed, along with the reactions that people had. Also, the demographics were different.

When trials hit it is often the case that communities respond in a very positive way, such as coming together and fighting for the cause. When the plague hit, a portion of the European community chose this route, embracing the good side of humanity. While others where lashing out and living recklessly, some chose to take a more reasonable response. Giovanni Boccaccio provides a first hand account of the occurrences surrounding the black plague in the introduction to his stories in From the Decameron. In Giovanni Boccaccio’s From the Decameron: The Plague Hits Florence he depicts one of the more positive responses to the pandemic:

“Because of such happenings and many others of a like sort, various fears and superstitions arose among the survivors, almost all of which tended toward one end-to flee from the sick and whatever had belonged to them. In this way each man thought to be safeguarding his own health. Some among them were of the opinion that by living temperately and guarding against excesses of all kinds, they could do much toward avoiding the danger; and in forming a band they lived away from the rest of the world. Gathering in those houses where no one had been ill and living was more comfortable, they shut themselves in. They ate moderately of the best that could be had and drank

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

The Black Death took place between 1315 and 1317, this Bubonic plague killed 10 percent The Catholic church failed to explain the cause of the Black Death, many church officials refused to treat the sick; leaving dying people behind. Citizens were desperate during the disaster, some had given up on life. They began living without rules and restrictions, they abandoned themselves into sexual and alcoholic indulgences. People lost their faith in Christianity, some extremists began to blame the Jews for causing the plague. An outbreak of anti-Semitism took place during the Black Death which caused the destruction over 60 major Jewish communities by the year of 1531. The plague also gave birth to a group of extreme believers called the flagellants in Germany who whipped themselves for forgiveness from God. The Black Death damaged the reputation of the church and many people lost faith in God.