Critical Evaluation of The Events
Estimates of the number of observers of the event vary greatly. Thousands were said to have flocked to the Church after the first announced occurrences of the phenomenon. Some claim the apparitions were seen by millions. Other sources estimate the figure at around 250,000 in total. Cynthia Nelson was a professor of anthropology at AUC (American University in Cairo) and the founding director of the Institute of Gender and Women's Studies. She visited the church site on several occasions including April 15, 1968, another week later near the end of April and on June 1, 1968. Despite the accounts of ongoing, if irregular, visitations by the Marian apparition, Cynthia Nelson documents seeing nothing other than a few 'intermittent flashes of light'.
Cynthia Nelson and others have put the Mary apparition in its context. The appearances came at a period of crisis in Egyptian history and served as a beacon of peace and unity to Egyptians of every creed.
Sociologists Robert Bartholomew and Erich Goode offer the Zeitoun apparitions as a prominent case of mass delusion:
- “It appears that the Marian observers were predisposed by religious background and social expectation to interpreting the light displays as related to the Virgin Mary.”
The Zeitoun apparition has been investigated as being a possible example of the tectonic strain theory.
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of Zeitoun
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