Pandemics and Changes of Faith

Arlington Cemetery, Virginia

Renaissance humanism, at its core, represented a post-Black Death change in Christian’s perception of God. As the humanists saw it, He was no longer a spectator who watched on from the heavens, but a being who lived inside of them. In many ways this is akin to the post-pandemic explosion of popularity in wellness culture. Prior to the shift, more people with the ability to seek care from medical professionals preferred to do so, expressing doubt in alternative medicines. The COVID-19 pandemic, though, ushered in newfound consumer interest in holistic wellness, transforming “the wellness industry into a trillion-dollar enterprise” [1]. Although acting upon the re-centerings of faith was, in both cases, largely class reserved, both the Black Death and COVID-19 pandemics catalyzed society’s desire to move away from external authority due to each pandemic’s unpredictability and tendency to isolate communities from central powers.

The unpredictability of pandemics contributes to the distrust of medical authority figures. We now know that the Black Death (Y. pestis) was (and still is) likely transmitted by “flea bites…contact with contaminated fluid or tissue…[or] infectious droplets” [2]. We also know that its signature Bubonic form is only one of three main manifestations, the other two being septicemic and pneumonic, and thankfully, we also know how to treat it [3]. To medieval Europeans, however, the plague was the fiery wrath of an angry God that reduced once bustling villages to ash [4]. Amidst this havoc, Christians turned to their shepherd, their beacon of medical and religious knowledge–the Catholic Church–for answers. The Catholic Church affirmed the idea that the plague was divine punishment, and as such, prescribed repentance to remedy it, promising that those free of sin would survive. Thus, many Christians flocked to churches to confess their sins, some going as far as “whipping themselves for their sins and the sins of humanity”, or violently persecuting non-Christians, believing that it would grant them immunity from the plague [5]. But despite their efforts and self perceived holiness, the plague would still snuff them out. Sinner and pure both died the same horrible death. Nothing was sacred to this pestilence. So had the Catholic Church’s gospel led them astray? With that final question, Christians began to rethink their faith, to find within them a more empathetic God who would guide them gently and lovingly through the plague. He had not abandoned them, not lost faith in them, but was with them all along. His unequivocal love soothed them to sleep at night, when the wails of the dying and their own imminent doom kept them awake.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit America, little was known about it. In what seemed like an instant people were told to quarantine in their homes without much other guidance. The CDC promised that it would be just a couple weeks, and then, when those weeks had passed, that the spread would subside by summer, because that is what the fairly limited data that they had at the time was saying. But all the general population saw was that death tolls continued to rise, the virus mutated, and the waves kept rolling in [6]. Now, even those who rigorously obeyed the CDC became less trusting of its optimism, and with their lives irreparably damaged, found no comfort in its positive news about the virus. It did nothing to quell the looming fear of infection. This persistent dread, exacerbated by the ever-changing predictions about the virus, fatigued Americans, and out of that exhaustion spawned a desire for simpler, more personal ways of care that could ease their anxieties.

The other major way that pandemics cause distancing from central medical authorities is because they isolate people from receiving medical or spiritual care. Although the Catholic Church was not a medical institution, at the time, spiritual health was considered far more important than physical health, with churches acting as spiritual doctor’s offices. Their authority over spiritual health and how it was valued in Christian medieval society made it, for the purposes of this essay, comparable to the powerful authority the conventional medical system holds in contemporary American society. Despite the aforementioned flocks of Christians congregating in churches to save their souls from the plague, as the Black Death raged on, this practice became far less common, as many clergies had been decimated. This isolation damaged the Catholic Church’s authority and control over Europeans because now, in many towns throughout the continent, “ministers…who were not either dead or ill were left with so few subordinates that they were unable to discharge any of their duties” [7]. And Christians, having suffered through “so much affliction and misery”, embraced this newfound destruction of the social order [8]. They feasted and danced amidst its wreckage, without the Church to silence them like they would have done in years prior. [9] From the destruction caused by the plague, Christians new understandings of faith flourished unimpeded [10].

As COVID-19 infected more and more people, hospitals were flooded with patients, so much so that many could barely admit patients experiencing non-COVID related medical emergencies, if they even could at all. Due to America not having free healthcare and the economy never quite recovering from the 2008 recession, many Americans had been wary of hospitals pre-pandemic, but COVID-19 amplified these reservations. When quarantine hit, it was the opportunity for many to get their health in order–because it gave them a vital sense of control during the pandemic. As such, the pandemic served as a catalyst for many to explore holistic wellness, as traditional healthcare was an increasingly difficult option. Quarantine created a surplus of free time, giving people the ability to explore and invest in wellness culture. Pandemics and isolation cause new cultural movements to bloom around the rigid lines of old authority, partially because there was no one stunting them.

Changes in faith from distant external authority to internal, personal authority can occur with or without pandemics. Pandemics’ rapid destruction of societal hierarchies, however, certainly expedite these shifts. This specific type of change results from feeling out of control and abandoned by a guiding authority (religious or medical), along with the desire to redefine and regain control of life. Though these desires may be felt throughout the population, especially with the rise of social media, acting upon them requires money, time, and resources that a vast majority of the population does not have access to [11]. Both the renaissance and wellness culture were and are paywalled cultural movements. These shifts also only tend to gain praise when they become widespread and “trendy.” The stigmatization of wellness culture pre-pandemic best exemplifies this, as pre-pandemic holistic medicine was frequently practiced as a necessity for those unable to afford and/or access external medical advice, or because it was a cultural tradition. Though changes in faith are popularized during pandemics, their roots are even more crucial to understand.

Footnotes:

[1] Have wellness brands by Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and others made women’s health into a trillion-dollar industry by playing on female anxiety?, Business Insider

[2] Yersinia pestis Diagnosis and Treatment, CDC

[3] Yersinia pestis Diagnosis and Treatment, CDC

[4] The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio

[5] Religious Responses to the Black Death, Joshua J. Mark

[6] ‘We May Be Surprised Again’: An Unpredictable Pandemic Takes a Terrible Toll, Simon Romero, Manny Fernandez and Marc Santora

[7] The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio

[8] The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio

[9] See The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio quote: “And it was perhaps inevitable that among the citizens who survived there arose certain customs that were quite contrary to established tradition” please it’s such a banger line just look at it

[10] If you’re interested in more Black Death primaries, check out Gabriele de Mussi’s account on the plague in Kaffa and Sicily: https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/perspectives/de_mussi.php

[11] It can also be extremely difficult to maintain these wellness routines–be it physically, mentally, or financially. Bone broth is expensive in America!