Theology meets epidemiology in the latest round of Rachel’s Trivia Challenge.

Drawing on two millennia of church and world history, Rachel quizzes the ladies on the long and complicated relationship between Christians and plagues. The resulting “grand tour of life in the midst of death” reveals clearly that in a grand, cosmic sense, there is nothing very “novel” about the coronavirus pandemic — and that when it comes to sharing Christ’s love and compassion with our neighbors in a time of contagion, this is #notourfirstrodeo.

Click to read Lyman Stone’s foreignpolicy.com article (which has been retitled since this episode was recorded) “Christianity Has Been Handling Epidemics for 2000 Years”; follow Lyman Stone on Twitter; read Martin Luther’s essay “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague”; check out Rodney Stark’s comments on Early Christian interventions and plague mortality rates; read Katie Luther’s loving remembrance of her daughter Elizabeth; and read Warren Schmidt’s Lutheran Heritage Center article “Summer of Death — 170 Years Ago.”