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.