The Theology of Pandemic #3 - We're All In This Together (Part 2)

The Theology of Pandemic #3

We're All In This Together (Part 2)

My sister has a Master's degree in Public Health. At the very beginning of the of the Covid-19 crisis she wrote in a family text conversation about the stay-at-home orders:

"I think it's the right call, don't get me wrong, just trying to keep people I love calm about things from a public health lens :) (Look I'm using my degree finally🤣🤣)”

When I read that a bit of sibling rivalry arose in me, as did my insecurity and need for affirmation. Not wanting to be left out, I wrote back:

"I'll use mine...this is a product of globalization. The virus spread is b/c of global travel. The market instability and product shortages (or fear of such) is b/c the world markets are intermeshed. The panic is driven by a interconnected network of networks of media and information. And God is in control and dwelling in the midst of it."

While that was simply a family exchange, life in this pandemic time brings the reality of globalization into sharp focus.

Globalization is something each of us experiences each day of our lives, but many of us would struggle to define. One way to begin to see the affects of globalization is to start observing where the products we use come from. I once did this with my daughters. We put pins in a map for all the locations around the world where our clothes had been manufactured. The world map we were using was littered with pins underscoring the fact our wardrobes are globalized. One could do this with all of the products we use daily and discover just how much we use products drawn from far away from where we live. Theologian James Perkinson (2001), notes that cities are like giant mouths sucking in resources beyond what they can produce from sources far beyond their boarders.  Living in the rural world no longer exempts one from this reality.  We are now living in the era of "planetary urbanization" - simply meaning that every place on earth is urban or effected by the urban reality (Brenner & Schmid [2011] 2018 & 2015).

But it is not just products being draw from far way that makes for a globalized world. Immigration, travel and advancements in communications put us in constant contact with people from around the globe. Pastor and Theologian Herbert Anderson writes, “One consequence of globalization has been a blurring of these boundaries between Us and Them that have divided people for centuries” (1999:4).

These are just a couple of examples of globalization. In reality all of our lives now are tied together in an unpresidented array of ways. Social scientist Manuel Castells describes our contemporary world as the "Network Society" (1996) marked by new information technologies; globalization; electronic hypertext; the collapse of the nation state (2000:693-694); and a redefined “relationship between culture and nature” due to scientific progress (Castells 2000:694). In Castells' view the world is now network upon interconnected network.

In this pandemic moment we are connected in a deeper more intimate way. We are connected by the air we breath. My friend Kris Rock recently wrote the Street Psalms network:

"My goodness, who’d a thunk that we would become so aware of something so simple as breathing, but that’s what the virus has us paying attention to. We are all breathing the same air. In fact, we now know that with each breath, we breathe a small fraction of the air Jesus exhaled in his last breath on the cross. And we also are breathing the same air as Hitler too. We don’t get to choose with whom we are related…(though please practice healthy habits during this time)…we are all in this thing together and always have been. It’s such a teachable moment we are in. If this isn’t the human catechism, I don’t know what is."

Over twenty years ago Anderson was thinking about this shared experience of living we call globalization and how we might respond to it. In the years that have followed his words have gained in importance as we have become even more interconnected.  In this pandemic epoch his “habitus for globalisation” (1999) might offer us a way forward. He first encourages us to live in a way that marvels (he uses the word wonders) at the uniqueness of each human. As a second step he posits that we recognize the Other, which is the act of really seeing them. This action is moving beyond simply co-existing where we physically see one another but remain physically distant, to a place of empathy. The next step is living out hospitality to the other - the sharing of our lives together.  Finally, Anderson encourages reconciliation. When we begin to wonder at diversity, really see each other, and share our lives together around tables, the need to address the differences we need will arise.

As we breathe each others air and share this planet together in ever more interconnected ways may we also learn to wonder, see, share and reconcile with our neighbor. One might ask, like the teacher of the law long ago, "'And who is my neighbor?'” (Luke 10:29 - NIV). In this globalized world, everyone is.

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:

Anderson, H., 1999, ‘Seeing the other whole: A habitus for globalisation’, in P.H. Ballard & P.D. Couture (eds.), Globalisation and difference: Practical theology in a world context, pp. 3-17, Cardiff Academic Press, Cardiff.

Brenner, N. & Schmid, C., [2011] 2018, ‘Planetary urbanization’, in X. Ren & R. Keil (eds.), The globalizing cities reader, 2nd edn., pp. 447-451, Routledge, New York.

Brenner, N. & Schmid, C., 2015, ‘Towards a new epistemology of the urban?’, City 19(2-3), 151-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712

Castells, M., 1996, The information age: Economy, society and culture, Volume I, Rise of the
network society, Blackwell, London.

Castells, M., 2000, ‘Toward a sociology of the network society’, 29(5), 693-699. https://doi.org/10.2307/2655234

Perkinson, J., 2001, ‘Theology and the city: Learning to cry, struggling to see’, CrossCurrents 51(1), 95-114.

The Theology of Pandemic: #2 - We're All In This Together (Part 1)

The Theology of Pandemic: #2 

We're All In This Together (Part 1)

Last week on Facebook I jokingly posted, "It's a good day to remember the words of theologian and social-scientist Red Green, 'Remember I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together.'" It was meant lightheartedly, but bears a real truth - in this pandemic we are all in this together.  The universal nature of this moment in time was driven home yesterday morning as I joined in on a Zoom call with colleagues from cities around the world to pray.  On the screen were representatives from The United States (Sarasota, Salem, Seattle, Tacoma, Grand Rapids, Camden), as well as cities around the world (Montreal, Santo Domingo, Manilla, Halifax, Port-au-Prince, and Guatemala City.  While those gathered on that call (and others in Africa and India) have been a community with some commonality for a long time, we have never all been going through the exact same thing at the exact same time.

According to Dictionary.com the word pandemic means:

adjective
1)  (of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.

2)  general; universal: pandemic fear of atomic war.

It is that second definition that interests me.  Despite the limited ways that some have tried to use this virus to divide humankind we are all experiencing the Corona Virus Covid-19 together.  There are cases on every continent except Antartica.  Lockdowns, stay at home orders, washing hands, cancelled plans, school closures, etc. are all happening at once around the world.

However, we rarely experience life in this universal way. Most often we are isolated by the identity politics of our lived experience. Humans seek out ways to divide ourselves. We look for the differences so that we can define ourselves in contrast to the others around us. 

Theologian Namsoon Kang describes our need to define ourselves as an "identity passport" (2011:279-280).  She sees this as a document we carry around that defines us by our race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, class, etc. In contrast she suggests a cosmopolitan theology (2011 & 2013) with five characteristics: trans-identity, radical affirmation of the Other / radical neighborly love, trans-religious solidarity, counter-empire, and boundary-transcending solidarity (2011:272-275).  In short Kang calls for a theology rooted not in what divides but in the "mobilizing discourse" of love spoken about by Spivak (2011:259).  She writes, "Cosmopolitanism calls for a 'planetary neighborly love' and 'deep and radical compassion' for living beings, which I believe should be the central message of Christianity" (2011:277).

Kang notes that her cosmopolitan theology is not a reality, but comes from the future (2011:276-279) because it has "not yet had the opportunity to actualize its universal potential" (2011:277).  But what if in this pandemic moment the time has come for all of us to put aside our identity politics, and all the ways we divide ourselves, in order to begin to live into the the passportless cosmopolitan theology Kang is envisioning?  What if we can, in this universal moment, see that we are all simply human?  What if we can begin to live out the Biblical reality that every human on this planet has a single identity as a child of God?  What if the future reality Kang is calling to is coming in this moment?  Has the opportunity that has not yet come, now, in this pandemic period being actualized?  

I believe that the potential for a passportless reality rooted in universal love has arrived disguised as Covid-19.  Saint Mother Teresa has been quoted as saying, "[W]e have forgotten that we belong to each other."*  Maybe in this pandemic moment we can remember that "We're all in this together."

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:

Kang, N., 2011, ‘Toward a cosmopolitan theology: Constructing public theology from the future’, in S.D. Moore & M. Rivera (eds.), Planetary loves: Spivak, postcoloniality, and theology, pp. 258-280, Fordham University Press, New York.

Kang, N., 2013, Cosmopolitan theology: Reconstituting planetary hospitality, neighbor-love,
and solidarity in an uneven world, Chalice Press, St. Louis.

* = https://www.scu.edu/mcae/architects-of-peace/Teresa/essay.html

The Theology of Pandemic: #1 - The Return of D.V.: Deo Volente

The Theology of Pandemic: #1

The Return of D.V.: Deo Volente

I often feel like my mind is a type of junk yard where things are left laying about in a disheveled manner until they are needed or I happen to stubble across them. Yesterday, as I sat in the bathtub soothing my body and my anxiety (I know too much information), I wandered past a long forgotten memory. The memory was fuzzy and came to me as a question, "In the old days, wasn't there an abbreviation that churches placed at the bottom of a schedule or calendar that meant "If the Lord wills it?" 

As it turns out old documents of many kinds were often signed "D.V." It is short for the Latin phrase Deo Volente, which translates, "If the Lord wills it." Letters were signed in this way as a hope, or prayer, that the letter would arrive in the hands of its addressee. Schedules and plans bore this note. If you search "Deo Volente" in Google for an image boats and ships come up bearing the name - a prayer to return home safe.

Over the past weeks as the Covid-19 pandemic has emerged into an event rivaling the global geographic scope of either world war many plans have been cancelled and schedules rearranged or erased. Graduations, proms, weddings, funerals, and other countless events and milestone moments have been upended. Schools have closed and church services have moved online.  Groups have been redefined from 500, to 100, to 10, each time erasing more and more of the anticipated gatherings of our lives.  As I write this post somewhere between 25-33% of the United States is being told to stay at home. All of life has been altered. Our schedules, plans and routines, which felt predictable and secure, have become tentative if they continue at all.

Added to the upheaval of deleted calendars and cancelled events is mortality. In this moment the frailty of human life is staring us in the face daily. We are concerned for our elders and those at high risk. We try to keep our families safe. Every cough bears with it concern. Each news report and press conference raises anxiety. The long incubation of the virus produces a protracted state of uncertainty. All of this connected to human health - yours, mine, our families, everyone. If you have any doubt about it think about how many times someone has asked you about your health or told you to "stay safe" or "stay healthy" in the past week, and then ask yourself how many times that happened before this pandemic.

Somewhere along the line signing letters and plans "D.V." fell out of favor and disappeared. I suspect it was a casualty of modern life. As deadly diseases that were once common became eradicated and advances in health care made life longer, healthier and seemingly more predictable there was less need to say "If the Lord wills it." As communication became reliable, and ever faster there was no need to jot "D.V." at the end of a letter as a prayer that it would arrive. As life got busier, travel more common, and as time became an increasingly valuable commodity we felt more and more like we controlled our schedules rather than God.

Yet here we are in our modern age having meetings on Zoom and posting on Facebook all the while being plunged into the human experience of the past where schedules and plans, and even our own health and life was uncertain. We are back in the the days of "D.V."  We have re-entered the time of "If the Lord wills it."

In the fourth chapter of the New Testament book of James we read:

"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16 - NIV)

James knows that the first step in forming a Theology of Pandemic is to realize that everything is dependent on the Lord's will. Understand me here, I'm not saying the pandemic is the Lord's will or that God is the cause of suffering. I am saying that the control we think we have over our plans and schedules, and even our health and life are an illusion of the world we live in. Those in older times knew this well, and it prompted them to write "D.V." on their plans. The mist like nature of our lives caused them to hold their schedules loosely and say, "If the Lord wills it." We might do well to do the same in these uncertain times.


Joel K

D.V.

The Theology of Pandemic: Preface

I haven't been writing on this blog much in recent years, but in the midst of this pandemic some thoughts have been surfacing.  As I have been experiencing this moment in history I have been observing a few things that have prompted some theological reflection. To be more exact it has prompted some practical theological reflection on the the pandemic, how we are reacting to it, and how we might respond to it.  So I am beginning a series here to express some of the thinking I have been doing in a effort to create a Theology of Pandemic.