6.4 Luther‟s response to the bubonic plague in relation to the HIV and AIDS
6.4.1 Caring for sick persons
Luther made it clear that Christians had both freedom and responsibility in dealing with the plague in that some individuals who did not have someone to care for were free to move, while others were to stay and offer care to sick individuals.599 Pastors were the first category of people who were instructed to stay behind (rather than fleeing) and to offer spiritual care to the sick and the dying. The second category was the public officers such as mayors and judges, due to their leadership responsibility within the community.
Luther insisted that secular authority was instituted and commanded by God to care for the entire community. He supported his argument with Paul‟s letter to the Romans:
“…for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God…for the authorities are God‟s servant” (Rom. 13:1-6).600
Lutheran Theological Institute, 2005, p. 2. Georg Scriba, “The 16th Century Plague and the Present AIDS Pandemic: A Comparison of Martin Luther‟s Reaction to the Plague and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Southern Africa Today," in Journal for Southern Africa, 126, 2, (November 2006), p. 67.
597 Scriba, Martin Luther Reaction to the Ravishing Plague, p. 2.
598 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague, p. 115. See also James M. Kittelson, Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986, p. 210.
Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining Reformation 1521-1532, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990, p. 207.
599 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague,” p. 117, 121. See also Luther, “Advice in Time of Epidemic and Famine,” p. 231, 232.
600 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague,” p. 121. See also, Luther, “Advice in Time of Epidemic and famine,” p. 231, 232.
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For Luther, whatever profession a person had, they were serving God.601 In other words, not only those who were ordained for the ministry of the word and sacraments were serving God. Therefore, the third category of people who were required to provide care to those related or close to them comprised neighbours, servants, and their masters/mistresses as well as parents and their children. Emphasizing the family‟s and community‟s responsibility in caring for their sick members, Luther said that the leader of each house ought to be his [sic] own “hospital director.”602 Similarly, he argued: “We must give hospital care and be nurses for one another in any extremity or risk the loss of salvation and the grace of God.”603 To be a “hospital director” could be interpreted to mean that each head of the household should lead by example rather than giving directives to other members of the family to care for a sick person. Since most of the homes are led by men, they were thus assumed to play a central role in providing physical, emotional and spiritual care since healing entails all these components. In other words, care-giving has to address the wholeness of a person.
In Luther‟s time pastors, mayors, judges and masters were all males since careers in the public were exclusively reserved for men. But neighbours, parents and children (who were also instructed by Luther to care for the sick) were obviously both males and females. The point here is that, in crisis times, Luther did not confine the task of care- giving to only a few people but extended it to all Christians regardless of their gender, profession and status. I want to believe that the care-giving which was given during the crisis time was not divided according to gender lines, but that both men and women provided the same care such as counselling, feeding, bathing and dressing the sick.604 The
601 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague,” p. 121. See also Paul Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972, p. 40.
602 Carl Reuss, “Health Service,” in John Bodensieck (ed), The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, Vol.
11, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965, p. 991. See also Luther, “Advice in Time of Epidemic and Famine,”
p. 237.
603 Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, p. 208.
604 The following describes the event that unfolded during the World Trade Center terrorist attack in September 11, 2001 in New York City (USA). Both men and women worked as a team in helping the victims of this attack over several days at St. Paul Chapel - the Episcopal Church situated close to the World Trade Center which became a relief center. One of the associates in the ministry at St. Paul‟s (Reverend Lyndon Harris) testifies that: “More than 5 000 people used their special gifts to transform St.
Paul‟s into a place of rest and refuge. Musicians, clergy, podiatrists, lawyers, soccer moms, and folks of every imaginable type poured coffee, swept floors, took out the trash, and served more than half a million
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same principle ought to be applied in the context of HIV and AIDS in that Christians – men and women, professionals and non-professionals – are urged to provide care to the sick.
On practical level, Luther and his wife Kathy took many individuals who were stricken by the plague into their own house and provided care to them until their recovery, to the extent that “their home remained under quarantine even after the plague left the city.”605 The example set by Luther and his wife needs to be emulated by Christian couples and congregants in general. In other words, Luther demonstrated the theological concept of love to the neighbour when he said that a Christian is called to be “a Christ to his neighbour” as noted earlier. A neighbour in this context is anyone who needs help or assistance, and to be Christ to a neighbour is to meet their needs in a way Christ meets our daily needs through his unconditional love. Luther‟s concern about the plague revealed God‟s saving work to the afflicted through the love of Christ.
As shown in the previous chapter, most of the diocese‟s HIV and AIDS programmes are carried out by the PHEP team who are the diocese and circuit coordinators and zonal educators. Only the diocese and circuit coordinators are full time employees,606 whereas the others are working on a voluntary basis because they have various professions in the government or within the church and others again are self employed. They range from being social workers to farm-workers, veterinarians, teachers, evangelists, parish workers and health workers. Family members of the sick persons are also directly involved in implementing the programmes as they offer care to their sick and dying relatives.
Moreover, parish staff and elders are responsible in providing spiritual care as PLWHA respondents mentioned in the previous chapter. The fact that the PHEP members have
meals.” Source: National Geographic Magazine, “After the towers fell, a tiny 18th century Episcopal church became a relief center. Clergy counselled, cooks dished out meals, and medical workers treated stiff muscles and burned feet,” <http://mgm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0209/st_pauls/online_extra.html >
Accessed: 19/11/2010, p.1.
605 Kittelson, Luther the Reformer, p. 210. See also Scriba, “The 16th Century Plague,” p. 71.
606 The diocese coordinator is the overall organizer of the Public Health Education Programme (PHEP) who works hand in hand with the circuit coordinators. The diocese coordinator is paid by the diocese, whereas those of the circuits are paid by their respective circuits. The diocese has five circuits, and each circuit has one coordinator. In this study only four circuits were studied due to the geographical location of Karatu circuit, as explained in chapter one.
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undergone extensive training related to HIV and AIDS leads to the assumption that they are uniquely responsible for dealing with matters around the pandemic, which places a very heavy burden on them. The massive impact of HIV and AIDS requires the involvement of the entire community – men and women as demonstrated by Luther and the community of St. Paul Chapel in New York to address the challenges posed by the pandemic. By so doing, many more needy or sick persons can be reached more often.
This will also lessen the burden on the team members, and women who are the prime care-givers for the sick as shown in the previous chapter. I argue that church members have not been made sufficiently aware and mobilized to participate fully in HIV and AIDS programmes. Instead the work is left to a small group of people, which is contrary to Luther‟s exhortation. The next section will examine the care for orphans.