Abstract
Pandemic, Ecology and Theology: Perspectives on COVID-19
edited by Alexander J. B. Hampton
Routledge Focus on Religion. London: Routledge, 2021. 144 pp. $22.95. ISBN 978-0-3676-1584-0.
As the sequential stages of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have unfolded, so have its complexities. What initially presented as a health emergency has become a phenomenon with many facets. The pandemic has revealed human creativity, the oft neglected presence of nature, and the resilience of communities. Equally, it has exposed deep social inequities, conceptual inadequacies, and structural deficiencies about the way we organize our civilization and our knowledge. The question is whether the crisis will be grasped as an opportunity to address the deep structural, ecological, and social challenges in the second decade of the new millennium. The collection of essays urges us to take a moment to consider our broken relationship with the natural world and our alienation from a deeper sense of purpose and meaning. The contributors share the conviction that the chief ground of any such reorientation involves our collective engagement with both ecology and theology.
All Creation Groans: Toward a Theology of Disease and Global Health
edited by Daniel W. O’Neill and Beth Snodderly; foreword by Michael J. Soderling and Rebecca Winter Lewis
Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2021. 300 pp. $40.00. ISBN 978-1-7252-9011-2.
In a suffering world reeling from global pandemics and health disparities, it is time to think theologically about the devastating experience of disease and to address our God-inspired responsibility to understand its origins and engage in its management. The global church must articulate a contemporary metanarrative that is moral, practical, and deeply transformational. This volume brings together multiple perspectives for a compelling global-health approach to the pathologies of the world as a part of the missio Dei. The authors paint a unifying perspective on God’s healing intentions in creation, redemption, and consummation, and the opposing nature-corrupting effects of the rebellion of created moral agents. They issue a fresh call for the global church to engage in aligning with God’s healing action for eternally sustainable global health.
Doing Theology in Pandemics: Facing Viruses, Violence, and Vitriol
edited by Zachary Moon; foreword by Pamela R. Lightsey
Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2022. 226 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-1-6667-0988-9.
The COVID-19 era will be remembered not only for the tragic global public health crisis, but also for the police violence against persons of color, the courageous activism that continues to rise up to confront racialized violence in all its forms, and the perpetuation of White nationalist rhetoric from the highest government elected offices. Everywhere we look, we find trauma and pain, and we also find resilience and resolve. This volume, featuring leading theological scholars and religious leaders, is rich in analysis of the plagues we are facing and equally rich in the resources, practices, and inspiration that will carry our efforts to build a more just world.
Ethical Challenges in Global Public Health: Climate Change, Pollution, and the Health of the Poor
edited by Phillip J. Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, S.J.
Global Theological Ethics. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2021. 208 pp. $30.00. ISBN 978-1-7252-9174-4.
In this collection of essays presented at a conference held at Boston College in 2019, global public health emerges as a complex discipline that requires multidisciplinary contributions—from ethics to economics and public policy, from nursing to social work, from medicine to population health—to address the social determinants of health and to articulate transformative practices and structures able to improve the quality of life and foster health for individuals, communities, and the whole planet. The contributors include scholars and activists, both national and international.
Beyond the Pandemic: Spiritual and Ecological Challenges
by Diarmuid O’Murchu
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2022. 200 pp. $25.00. ISBN 978-1-6269-8495-0.
In the three years since the onset of COVID-19, we are still coping with the reality of death and suffering on a massive scale, as well as from ongoing economic and social dislocations. And yet, amidst the efforts to recover some sense of normality, there remain urgent issues to be addressed. Some of these bear on the ecological consequences of humankind’s unending encroachment on the natural world—one of the underlying factors in this and possible future pandemics. But there are spiritual lessons to be learned as well. As Diarmuid O’Murchu argues, the pandemic calls for a “reset,” a major shift in human consciousness, in the very ways we see and understand life—or fail to do so.
Fleeing Plague: Medieval Wisdom for a Modern Health Crisis
by Martin Luther; introduction and notes by Anne Marie Johnson
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2023. 68 pp. $14.99. ISBN 978-1-5064-8838-7.
Bubonic Plague was an ongoing epidemic that sickened and killed many in Europe and beyond. Beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, it contued to break out in the days of Martin Luther’s sixteenth-century Germany. Luther’s treatise was prompted by a request from clergy, who wondered whether a Christian could flee home and work to escape the plague. His pragmatic response focused on a Christian’s responsibility to care for the sick and to use the means God gives to limit the plague’s destruction. He lauded those who can face the plague without fear of death, but he emphasized that those with “weak faith” can flee in good conscience as long as they are not needed to care for someone or to maintain a public service. Anne Marie Johnson provides annotations to help readers understand the text and its historical context. The parallels to the recent COVID-19 pandemic are striking. Questions of ethical responsibilities are still with us, and Christians continue to wonder what faithful responses to pandemic should be.
From Pandemic to Renewal: Practices for a World Shaken by Crisis
by Chris Rice
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2023. 240 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-1-5140-0552-1.
The pandemic changed the world on a global scale. Not only was COVID-19 devastating in terms of loss of life, it also revealed deep layers of anxiety and brokenness throughout society. Mental exhaustion, economic disparities, and escalating divisions have become apparent. Chris Rice sees the challenges of our day as an historic opportunity for renewal and fresh growth. He examines eight interrelated crises exposed by the pandemic era and provides pathways for followers of Christ to bring transformation and healing to their lives and communities. Rice helps readers to understand the emerging world that will reshape our lives for decades to come and sets forth transformative practices that can move us toward social healing and spiritual renewal.
The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health
edited by Christopher C. H. Cook and Isabelle Hamley; foreword by Justin Welby
London: SCM, 2020. 256 pp. $40.00. ISBN 978-0-334-05977-6.
Christopher Cook and Isabelle Hamley have collected essays that aim to develop a biblical theology of mental health. The essays explore the pastoral use of Scripture in regard toquestions of mental health within a Christian framework. This timely collection integrates the highest levels of biblical scholarship with theological and pastoral concerns. Walter Brueggemann, John Swinton, Paula Gooder, Joanna Collicutt, and Stephen C. Barton are among the fourteen contributors.
An Epidemic among My People: Religion, Politics, and COVID-19 in the United States
edited by Paul A. Djupe and Amanda Friesen
Religious Engagement in Democratic Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2023. 322 pp. $39.95. ISBN 978-1-4399-2340-5.
The pandemic presented religion as a paradox: faith is often crucial for helping people weather life’s troubles and make difficult decisions, but how can religion continue to deliver these benefits and provide societal structure without social contact? This volume explains how the COVID-19 pandemic tested American religious communities and created a new politics of religion centered on public health. Contributors consider how the virus and government policy affected religion in America. Essays examine the link between the prosperity gospel and conspiracy theories, the increased purchase of firearms by evangelicals, the politics of challenging public health orders as religious freedom claims, and the reactions of Christian nationalists, racial groups, and female clergy to the pandemic and pandemic politics. Together, they provide a comprehensive portrait of religion in American public life.