Disease, Scarcity, and Famine: A Reformation Perspective on God and Plagues

“Michael Hunter’s excellent rendering of these classic sermons by Ludwig Lavater, a leading scholar and Reformed minister from Zurich in the late 1500’s, offer a remarkably full and timely theological engagement of the twin human maladies of pandemic and famine. The ever relevant Scriptural themes of courageous ministry, loving compassion, the purposes of divine providence and the call for humble repentance and living faith challenge us to reappraise our day’s rendition of the classic plague-time trilogy—Cito, Longe, Tarde—“flee fast and far and then come back slowly.” This is rewarding reading for such a time as this.”

“Writing from a time well versed in the unpredictability of infectious diseases and the pervasiveness of poverty, Lavater’s sermons on pestilence, scarcity, and famine offer today’s reader valuable insights into God’s purpose for communal suffering and of the spiritual responsibilities and mutual duties incumbent on society. While mindful of practical concerns, Lavater conveys, from his sixteenth-century vantage, a particular emphasis on the ‘why’ of widespread physical and economic hardship, providing a needed complement to the twenty-first century’s common preoccupation with the ‘how.’ Through Michael Hunter’s very readable translation, Lavater reminds us theologically and historically that in calamity the godly are neither abandoned nor alone.”

“These sermons are not only historical artifacts which lend perspective, they are the clearly reasoned proclamation of Bible truths. Each of Lavater’s main points is theo-centric, recognizing and acknowledging that God is the one who must be kept in view in all circumstances. Each is sober and serious, in some sense implicitly acknowledging both the gravity of the situation and of the enormity of the privilege of knowing God in the midst of it.”