Thinking with the Old Testament about the pandemic

Abstract

Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, Samuel-Kings and Chronicles include a number of stories about epidemic and famine that may resource us as we wonder how to think about the Covid-19 pandemic, about how God might be involved in it, about the past and the future, and about what our response to it might be.

Sákit Pighati and Pag-asa: A Pastoral Reflection on Suffering During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

“…Reading the bible can bear witness to the divine promise of hope in the healing justice of God, and calls human persons and human communities to participate in that justice through responsible action (Brett & Goroncy, 2020 ). The Old Testament books of Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, Samuel-Kings, and Chronicles include several stories about epidemic and famine that may resource us as we wonder how to think about the COVID-19 pandemic, about how God might be involved in it, about the past and the future, and about what our response to it might be (Goldingay & Goldingay, 2020 ). The Catechism adds that the virtue of hope keeps man from discouragement; sustains him during times of abandonment, and opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude (sec.…”

Dreaming big: On expanding dreams, hubris, and the character of the biblical Joseph

“…3 Also, unlike the two pairs of dreams in prison (Gen. 40. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and of , this pair forms a narrative arc which extends to the very end of the story in 50.18. As Redford rightly says, 'Remove the dreams from chapter 37, and the Joseph Story as a coherent whole is reduced to nothing'.…”

“…In order to create suspense when recounting his supposed dreams (Gen. 37. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], neither the implicit narrator nor Joseph himself provides an interpretation of his dreams. Rather, one is left unsure about the dreams' full and concrete meaning for the bulk of the story.…”

“…Rather, one is left unsure about the dreams' full and concrete meaning for the bulk of the story. 5 It is generally assumed that all three dream pairs actually belong to the category of symbolic dreams in terms of form history, and thus require interpretation, since they are not directly interpreted by the dream giver. 6 Following Zgoll's categories, these are intrarelational image dreams which are both unverified and uninterpreted.…”

Resistance to Narratives of the Covid‐19 Pandemic as an Act of God

“…In a recent piece drawing on the Old Testament to comment on the COVID‐19 pandemic, John Goldingay and Kathleen Scott Goldingay (2020) discuss the way in which plagues, infertility, and illness are sometimes understood to be brought on by God and sometimes not: “Israel knew that sometimes epidemics are just one of those things” (Goldingay and Goldingay 2020, 192). For the bishop, the point was that these passages were a useful reminder for debunking the idea that plagues are necessarily punishment against certain kinds of people and for a particular set of sins.…”