In the Light of COVID-19: On Doubt, Wars and Dangerous Memory

Abstract

Literally halted, held still in our homes, and yet unable to stop gazing outward, for the church as the people, the present time of doubting is the time for theology, a turning back to the world, which “scandalizes and interrupts the banality and boredom of bourgeoisie religion.” As we have watched in our living rooms the distressing scenes of disease and death in Wuhan, Italy, and New York, now morphing to more vulnerable states of Indonesia, Venezuela, and Nigeria, we as the faithful may experience a doubting due to our fears - the “monstrous inexhaustible by explanation” - and be led to lament. Lamenting and remembering Christ’s story of divine association with suffering, Johann Baptist Metz’s concept of “dangerous memory” reminds us our place is with those in danger, those who are bearing the brunt of the impacts of the pandemic, even when we do not encounter these people in our safe-havens, our homes.