COVID-19 Resources Page
updated as of Monday, April 20, 2020
What are Christians saying about living through the coronavirus?
For “Praise Song for the Pandemic” by Christine Valters Paintner, a powerful poem set to video, click here.
For N. T. Wright’s thoughts on coronavirus, see his article “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It's Not Supposed To.”
“The Gospel in a Time of Social Distancing” by Casey Cep appeared in The New Yorker on March 29, 2020.
“Love in the Time of the Coronavirus: A Guide for Christian Leaders.” A lengthy article by Andy Crouch addressing (1) what is happening? (2) what should we communicate? (3) what decisions should we make? (3) what can we hope for?
“Church Canceled? 6 Ways to Respond - And 5 Ways Not To” by Karl Vaters offers suggestions for worship in this virtual world.
“Churchgoers find new ways to worship amid coronavirus,” a Reuters piece, details some of the ways that Pope Francis and the Catholic Church have been responding to the pandemic.
“7 Lessons from Singapore’s Churches for When the Coronavirus Reaches Yours” by Edric Sng in Christianity Today.
“Words of Faith: How to Navigate a Pandemic” by Paul Mundey argues that Christians should (1) confess it’s alarming, (2) look for manna, and (3) expect New Creation.
“Coronavirus Fears Mean We Need More Communion, Not Less” by Stephen Ko offers an important perspective from a pastor who used to work for the CDC.
Some essays argue that C. S. Lewis’ reflections on living in the atomic era can and should be applied to living during this pandemic. For a convincing rejection of that argument, click here.
For reflections on the importance of the “virtual body of Christ,” read Daniel Harrell’s article “An Easter Without Going to Church” here.
*Earlier, I had posted the story of an Italian priest who died after giving up his ventilator so a younger patient could use it (click here). Reports now indicate that that story was false (click here).
What have Christians in the past said about living through pandemics?
Cyprian lived through a deadly plague in the fourth century in Carthage in North Africa. For more details, click here. For Pastor Zack’s summary of his work De Mortalitate (“On Mortality”), click here.
While the bubonic plague (known as the Black Death) ravaged Europe during the fourteen century, it emerged almost 200 years later in Martin Luther’s lifetime. A doctor Johann Hess wrote Luther asking him whether Christians could flee the cities during a time of plague. For the letter in which Luther responds at length to this question, click here. For Pastor Zack’s summary of the letter, click here.