Abstract:
How are we to make theological sense of the Covid-19 pandemic? In response to the viewpoint
of Wilhelm Jordaan as expressed in a popular newspaper that it is foolish to understand
Covid-19 as God’s punishment or nature’s way for restoration, it is critically argued that Jordaan
mostly helps us with what not to think, but not so much with what to think of the current
situation from a Christian theological perspective. The theological perspective that is presented
in response to Jordaan takes as the vantage point a different interpretative line of an image of
God (as ‘regretting/sorrow God’) over against more popular and established lines of God
images such as God the Almighty. It is argued that the different God image of a ‘silent God’ and
the need for wisdom that is prompted by the image challenges us here and now with an
invitation to take (self)responsibility for the Covid-19-pandemic before a silent (distanced) God.
CONTRIBUTION: This article represents original systematic-theological reflection on the doctrine
of God and anthropology within contemporary theology-science discourses. It focuses on a
Christian biblical neglected God image of a ‘regretting/sorrow God’ (Genesis) in relation to
embodied personhood within the current Covid-19 pandemic. It proposes a newly formulated
understanding of a ‘silent God’ on the one hand and human self-responsibility and the seeking
of wisdom on the other hand.
