From Exodus to the Coronavirus: Scriptures and Narratives of Religious Responses to Epidemics

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to offer an overview of religious responses to epidemics and pandemics, mostly in a monotheistic tradition, and to engage with the questions of collective guilt, collective mourning, divine justice (or lack thereof), and the societal disruption that such illnesses create or expose as well as persecution and discrimination. The questions raised will help us find parallels with these times of pandemics and put our current times into perspective, but also contextualize and reflect on the nuances of past events and responses