D. Professor Martinus Luther of Wittenberg University -- Advice to those living where a pandemic has broken out -- 1527 Letter to a pastor nearby in Breslau

 from Religion News Service (online article)

https://religionnews.com/2020/11/20/what-would-luther-do-protestant-reformers-pandemic-advice-goes-viral-500-years-later/

 the reformer had to say in his 1527 letter, later published as a treatise, is “strikingly relevant” today, said Kurt Hendel, who spoke at the Friday session at Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, IL. 

Luther wrote that letter in the midst of an outbreak of the bubonic plague in Wittenberg, according to the professor emeritus. He was responding to a Lutheran leader in Breslau, who asked whether a Christian ought to leave a city in the midst of a plague outbreak for someplace safer.

In his treatise, Luther wrote:

“Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. … See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

Luther himself had been ordered to leave the university in Wittenberg, where he taught, Hendel said. He refused. Instead, he and his pregnant wife, Katharina von Bora, a former nun who had learned some nursing skills in the cloister, stayed behind and opened a wing of their home as a clinic.

A 1528 portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder.  Image courtesy of Creative Commons

Those who are responsible for the spiritual and physical well-being of others must not flee an outbreak, but rather stay and care for people in the midst of it, Luther advised. However, they also must be careful not to make matters worse.

Just as Luther recommended that his readers take and administer medicine, Hendel recommended Christians follow today’s science. And just as Luther — in characteristically colorful language — called those who did not take care not to become infected or to infect others “murderers,” the professor emeritus encouraged Christians to wear face masks and to weigh what God was calling them to do in this moment.

“Love for neighbor is the ultimate criterion that Christians must use as they choose what to think and plan and do — not only during a time of pandemic, but in all times, in all aspects of their lives,” Hendel said.

The ELCA has embraced Luther’s message throughout the pandemic.