Divine hiddenness, the melancholic self, and a pandemic spirituality

• Published in: Acta theologica Vol. 2022; no. sup33; pp. 207 - 225
• Main Author: Venter, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bloemfontein University of the Free State 01-01-2022; University of the Free State Faculty of Theology
• Subjects: Christianity; Contextualism; COVID-19; Hiddenness of God; Melancholic self; Modernism; Pandemic; Pandemics; Spirituality; Theology
• ISSN: 1015-8758; 2309-9089
• DOI: 10.18820/23099089/actat.Sup33.15

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted societies worldwide and occasioned intense intellectual reflection to make sense of the phenomenon. The state of insecurity has become a new horizon for doing Christian theology, and the new experience makes it inevitable that the spiritual implications be explored. The article attempts to undertake constructive spirituality for a specific historic moment, and to enquire about the contours of a pandemic spirituality. The disciplinary contribution is to be found in the threefold effort to propose a specific naming of God, discern a unique self-understanding, and intimate corresponding practices. Central notions such as hiddenness of God, melancholic self, and practices of everyday life, of lament and of othering are employed coherently to delineate a contextual pandemic spirituality. A multidisciplinary approach is used to interpret these constituent elements.