World Christianity and Covid-19: Looking Back and Looking Forward

✍ Scribed by Chammah J. Kaunda (editor)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 421
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This volume explores how Christians around the world have made sense of the meaning of suffering in the context of and post-COVID-19. It interrogates the question of God, suffering, and structural injustice. Further, it discusses the Christian response to the compounded threats of racial injustice, climate injustice, wildlife injustice, gender injustice, economic injustice, political injustice, unjust in the distributions of the vaccine and future challenges in the post-COVID-19 era. The contributions are authored by scholars, students, activists and clergy from various fields of inquiry and church traditions. The volume seeks to deepen Christian understanding of the meaning of suffering in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the fresh ways the pandemic can contribute to reconceptualizing human relations and specifically, what it means to be human in the context of suffering, the place of or justifications of God in suffering, human place in creation, andthe role of the church in re-articulating the theological meanings and praxes of suffering for today.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: “See, Choose, Act”
Introduction
An Apocalyptic Pandemic
“I Can’t Breathe”
Seeing, Choosing, Acting
Conclusion and Chapter Outline
Part I: Faith Trouble
Chapter 2: A Test Case for the Theodicy Problem
Introduction
From Lisbon to Auschwitz
Sources of Suffering
Posing the Theodicy Problem
Six Influential Responses to Theodicy Questions
An Inconclusive Postscript
Chapter 3: Lament in the City
Introduction
Christian Faith in New York
Research Methodology
Case Studies
Crossroads Christian Center
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Chapel of Hope
All Nations Church-House of Restoration
Epiphany Mar Thoma Church
Themes
Pastoral Care
Lament
Community
Technology
Worship
Finance
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Faith in the International Order
Introduction
COVID-19 and the Failure of the International Order
The Populist and Neo-Fascist Ascendancy
The Soul of Internationalism
Chapter 5: Punisher, Healer, or Sufferer?
Introduction
On Being a Targeted Group
Korean Immigrants in Argentina
Chinos: What Is Behind the Name?
COVID-19 and Racial Minorities
God, the Pandemic, and the Others
Korean Protestant Churches in Argentina
Regardless of What Happens in the World, We Keep Our Faith in God
An Integrated Theological Response to Marginalization
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Disaster Socialism
Introduction
Introducing Disaster Capitalism
Disaster Capitalism and COVID-19
Churches and Capitalism
North American Mainline Church Responses to COVID-19
Making Connections Between Crisis, Needs and Chronic Inequalities
Disaster Capitalism and Church Finance During COVID-19
Church Finance and COVID-19: Congregational Case Studies
Conclusion
Part II: Unveiling and Naming Distortions
Chapter 7: Weaponization of Faith
Introduction
In Durham
COVID-19 and White Christian Nationalism
Indigenous Peoples of the United States: A Case Study
Decolonizing Our Communities
Toward Shalom: An Ethic of Care
Care in the Time of COVID-19
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Anti-black Racism
Introduction
What Is Black Faith?
Black Faith and Irrationality
Black Faith and Suffering
Black Faith and the Presence of God in Suffering
Conclusion
Chapter 9: Anthropocentric and White Supremacist Notions of God
Introduction
COVID-19 and Systemic Inequalities
Creation Renews Itself
God in Human Terms
Conclusion
Chapter 10: Lockdown and Sexual Exploitation
Introduction
The Home, Love, and Safety
The Home Turned into a Dungeon of Robbers
The Home as an Unsafe Space
Chapter 11: Online Sexualization
Introduction
The Philippines as the “Global Epicenter” of OSEC
Children as Victims of Imperialism and Global Capitalism
“Clothing the Naked” Children
Part III: New Eyes for Rereading the Bible
Chapter 12: A Reflection on Psalm 88
Introduction
Psalm 88 and the Dimensions of Suffering
Physical Suffering
Psychological Suffering
Spiritual Suffering
Praying Psalm 88 in the Context of COVID-19
Conclusion: Making Sense of Suffering
Chapter 13: Expression of Korean Han
Introduction
Toward Recovering Psalms of Lament
Suffering and Resilience
Lament and Han in Minjung Theology and Korean Traditional Music
Lament and Han in Korean Psalm of Lament
Concluding Summary
Chapter 14: Ghanaian Prosperity Preaching
Introduction
Exegesis of Reality
Exegesis of the Text
Engagement: The Perlocutionary Effect
Conclusion
Chapter 15: Malawian Christian Suffering
Introduction
COVID-19 Pandemic Situation in Malawi
The Purpose of the Book of Job
Human Limitations in Probing Divine Justice
Revealing the Sovereignty and Freedom of Yahweh
Probing the Existential Nature of Divine-Human Relationship
Implications of Job on Christian Suffering in Malawi amid COVID-19
Conclusion
Chapter 16: Epidemics and Major Disasters
Introduction
Old Testament Epidemics and Disasters: What Does Recent History Have to Say?
COVID-19, the Present-Day Major Crisis
Historical Precedents
Some of the Major Epidemics and Crises of the Old Testament
Causes
How the Different Crises Unfold
Curbing and Diffusion of Major Crises
Outcomes
An Attempt to Define Humankind’s Response to Suffering due to Epidemics
Suffering due to Disasters and Pandemic-Scale Diseases
Some Solutions in the Search for Closure
Part IV: (Un)Rethinking Traditions
Chapter 17: Zambian Pentecostalism and Traditional Healing
Introduction
Pentecostalism and African Traditional Medicine
Pentecostalism and COVID-19
Research Approach
Ukufutikila: Traditional Healing and Pentecostalism
“Missionaries Deceived Us”
COVID-19 as Revealer of the Truth
God Is the Source and the Healing Energy in Creation
Conclusion: Emerging Pentecostal Theology of Healing and Miracles
Chapter 18: Kerala Pentecostalism and Mental Health Crisis
Introduction
Kerala Pentecostalism, COVID-19, and Mental Distress
Lament as Pentecostal Spirituality in Isolation
Pentecostals and Lament
Expressive Writing as a Practice of Lament in Isolation
Scriptural Pointers for Expressive Writing
Expressive Writing of Lament as a Pentecostal Spiritual Practice
Conclusion
Chapter 19: Marian Pentecostalism and Environmentalism
Introduction
Sin and Indifference Towards the Suffering of the Other
The Personhood of Mary
Irenaeus’ Theology of Creation and Redemption
Eschatological Vision and an Ecological Concern
Another Lesson from the Past
The Way Forward
Chapter 20: Death Rituals in Western Kenya
Introduction
Funeral Rites and Practices
Luyia’s Ways of Death
Burial Preparations
COVID-19 Safety Protocols
Commercialization and Monetization of Funerals
The Deceased in their Homesteads—Space and Memory
Burial Sites and Types of Graves and their Preparation
The Funeral Service and Dressing of the Deceased before Interment
Funerals for Victims of Murder or Suicide—Non-public Funerals
Celebration of the Deceased Using Food, Song and Dance
Some Emerging Themes from the Above Narratives
Concluding Remarks
Part V: Mobilizing Subversive Spiritualities
Chapter 21: Animal Suffering
Introduction: Wake-Up Call
The Need for a New Global Commitment
Rereading Biblical Traditions
Animals as Third Party in God’s Covenant
Biblical Dietary Regulations
Eschatological Vision of Peace
Rethinking and Widening our Sustainability Concepts
Revising Bad Human Habits and Cultural Roots of Capturing and Eating Wild Animals
Chapter 22: Possibilities of Resurrection
Introduction
Palm Sunday
Tenebrae
Maundy Thursday
Holy Friday
The Great Vigil of Easter
Easter Sunday
Conclusion
Chapter 23: Imago Dei Ecclesiology
Introduction
The Americanized Inculturation of Imago Dei
The Imago Dei and the Character of God
Worship, Suffering, and Spirit-Empowered Life
An Imago Dei Ecclesiology
Chapter 24: Filipino Family Eucharist
Introduction
The Eucharist and Family in Domus Ecclesiae
The Filipino Salo-Salo sa Hapag
Filipino Family Eucharist in Time of COVID-19 Pandemic
Chapter 25: Spiritual Challenge
Introduction
Looking for a Relevant Construction of COVID-19
Christianity and the Anthropocentric Worldview
Faulty Worldview and Human Alienation
A Faulty Worldview Is the Foundation of Ecological Disaster
Need for an Eco-Friendly Science and Religion
The Indian Scene
The Earth as a System in Balance
Fulfilling Relationships in a Systemic Context
Towards a Holistic Construction of Christian Faith
Concluding Remarks: Coping with Sufferings
Index