Christianity during the Worst Year in Human History – 536 CE

Amiel Drimbe ()
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Amiel Drimbe: Baptist Theological Institute of Bucharest, Romania

RAIS Conference Proceedings 2022-2024 from Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

Abstract: Modern scholars consider that the worst year in the history of humankind was 536 CE. Since there was no separation between the Church and the State in the Byzantine Empire, the predominantly Christian population who had endured the calamities of the year was let down by both religious and political central institutions. When centralized institutions fail, local chaos often ensues. As is most often the case, the first to suffer are those most vulnerable – the poor and the lowly. Moreover, in the vacuum created by the disregard of the Church, masses of people looked for answers in religious superstition, while showing a disinclination to trust the science of the day. Others developed a sense of hatred and suspicion towards foreigners, whom they blamed for the ongoing calamities. The safety measures that saved the lives of many came from the local administrators or the people themselves, not from the central institutions.

Keywords: 536 CE; calamities; Justinian; Church leadership; Christianity; religion and politics; social tensions; superstition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 8 pages
Date: 2022-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-his
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Published in Proceedings of the 26th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, February 27-28, 2022, pages 182-191

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:smo:raiswp:0183

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