This paper highlights several Malawian Pentecostal perspectives in light of the COVID-19 pandemic... more This paper highlights several Malawian Pentecostal perspectives in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper draws on ongoing empirical research that explores how Malawian Christians respond to Jesus as Healer when encountering chronic health conditions. The ongoing empirical research compares the responses of three faith/theological traditions, Reformed, Pentecostal, and Liberation, in the Malawian Southern City of Blantyre and its surrounding areas. This paper highlights and reflects on specifically the Pentecostal insights from the ongoing empirical research and argues that from the study's perspective, several theological themes are important in Pentecostal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses include how participants in the study related to the themes of "hope" and, in turn, to the prominence of retribution theologies that often emerge during public health crises. Thus, this paper relies on the two themes, "hope" and "justice," as offering conceptual framework for dialoguing the study participants' insights with some insights from the Pentecostal discourse that emerged in traditional and social media in Malawi, particularly in the first (2020) and second wave (2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This paper highlights several Malawian Pentecostal perspectives in light of the COVID-19 pandemic... more This paper highlights several Malawian Pentecostal perspectives in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper draws on ongoing empirical research that explores how Malawian Christians respond to Jesus as Healer when encountering chronic health conditions. The ongoing empirical research compares the responses of three faith/theological traditions, Reformed, Pentecostal, and Liberation, in the Malawian Southern City of Blantyre and its surrounding areas. This paper highlights and reflects on specifically the Pentecostal insights from the ongoing empirical research and argues that from the study's perspective, several theological themes are important in Pentecostal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses include how participants in the study related to the themes of "hope" and, in turn, to the prominence of retribution theologies that often emerge during public health crises. Thus, this paper relies on the two themes, "hope" and "justice," as offering conceptual framework for dialoguing the study participants' insights with some insights from the Pentecostal discourse that emerged in traditional and social media in Malawi, particularly in the first (2020) and second wave (2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Papers by Thandi Jong