Framing a Theological Response to COVID-19 in the Presence of the Religious Other

The Christian faith has a long history of responding to pandemics. Its past practice borewitness to the desire to care for others: it furnished an exemplary model with some notableexceptions. The dilemma that COVID-19 presents is that the understanding of viralspread now lies within the preserve of a professionalized health system. The evident risk asa consequence is one of theological quietism and being “unavailing.” Now is not the time forsimple hyper compliance at the expense of an enquiring confessional claim. The ecumenicalwitness in solidarity with other faiths/religions lends itself to a desire to consider how thepresent pandemic crisis might serve as an invitation for a theological enquiry into widerplanetary issues.