Plague and Epidemic: From Practical Theology to Applied Ethics

Abstract

This paper examines the complex nexus of "Text" and "Empirical Reality" as unfolded in the classical discussions on plagues and pandemics. It is argued that whereas practical theology dominated the classical discussions on plagues, applied ethics (particularly, medical ethics) dominated the discussions on the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing power of medicine, the system of modern nation state and the birth of applied ethics as a distinct discipline, all contributed to overshadowing the theological discourse. This paper is divided into two main sections. The first section examines the pandemic and the particularity of the plague and how this topic moved from being medical, or part of natural sciences, in nature to assuming a religious (metaphysical) character. The second section analyzes how the thesis of the particularity of plague led to (a) epistemological discussions on the sources of knowledge, and the related nexus of text and empirical reality, and delineating the scope of medicine and Sharia and the functions of each of them, and (b) applied discourse within the disciplines of theology and jurisprudence, premised on the thesis of the particularity of plague and related to the concept of practical theology.