![]() ![]() Anthropological research is essential for placing the virus in context.Ĭovid-19 threatens key symbolic frameworks and presents unprecedented challenges for both people and society globally in terms of its impact on mortality, morbidity, economic decline and the ways in which we lead our lives. As anthropologists would argue, pandemics are more than metrics (numbers, cases, and prevalences), they are embodied, affecting situated lives. But global events are always enacted in a local context and it behoves social scientists to understand the meanings of Covid-19 in specific contexts. While the global death rate from Covid-19 has been phenomenal, the virus cannot be divorced from its sociocultural context. Instead, narratives about contagious disease hold up a mirror to our deepest, most inchoate fears about our present moment and explore different possible responses to those fears. The appearance of being a safe and thriving land becomes only a façade that hides the threat of death.’ As Schwetz ( 2020) states: ‘Pandemics scare us partly because they transform other, less concrete, fears about globalization, cultural change, and community identity into tangible threats.’ This was summed up well over two thousand years ago by the Roman poet Virgil’s notion of a ‘maze of dread’: ‘The world itself seems entirely unreliable: not only dangerous but also deceptive. Self-isolation and quarantine create a sense of being separated from the community and world generally-a sense of anomie. Pandemics indicate the fragility of life and the world, chaos, engender paralysing anxiety that the world is dissolving, a sense of detachment and raise significant issues of meaning resulting in existential crises. ![]() A pamphlet, The Millennium-A Prophetic Forecast, warned readers that the flu epidemic was only the beginning of the affliction that was stated in the Book of Revelations. One member of the Dutch Reformed Church, Johanna Brandt, prophesied that the Day of Judgment had come. In another case, Howard ( 2008) reports on religious explanations of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic where appeal was made to ideas of sin and of an eschatological sign of Christ’s second coming. While bad air, divine punishment and witchcraft were postulated causes, for many the Black Death signaled the end-times (Lerner 1981 Dwyer 2016). As one example explanations of the Black Death (1347–1352) involved ideas of sin and apocalypse, acts of God and alignments of the planets. Throughout history pandemics and apocalyptic narratives have run closely together. ![]() While epidemics in the ancient world were generally accounted for in religious terms, a concept of contagion still existed (Feder 2013). Historically pandemics have been attributed to both religious and naturalistic causes. While Covid-19 is of course natural, the way it spreads is highly influenced by social, political and cultural factors. Cases are rising on a daily basis throughout Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Emerging in Asia in late 2019, the virus is present in every continent except Antarctica. To date there have been 9,738,975 cases and 492,390 deaths worldwide as of J(Worldometer 2020). Contributions received and accepted by the LCMS are deemed to be in agreement with this statement.The coronavirus covid-19 pandemic is the most significant global health crisis of our time and presents the greatest challenge we have faced since the Second World War. If a contributor cannot be contacted, the LCMS will use the gift to meet a similar pressing need that most closely matches the contributor's original intent.Ĭonsistent with Synod Board policy and in recognition of a more challenging economic and philanthropic/fundraising environment due to inflationary pressure, not more than 12.5 percent of any charitable contribution will be allocated to administering gifts and communicating with contributors (compared to a not-more-than ceiling of 10.5 percent the previous fiscal year). In these situations, the LCMS will make reasonable attempts to contact contributors to apply their contribution toward another aspect of ministry that aligns closely the contributor’s goals and values. ![]() Occasionally, we may receive more in contributions for a particular purpose than can be wisely applied to it in the foreseeable future or the purpose may cease to be feasible. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Inc., including Mission Central (in Mapleton, Iowa), is an IRS registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.Ī contribution designated (restricted) for a specific purpose, when accepted, will be used only to fund expenses related to that purpose. Commission on Theology and Church Relations.PALS: Post-Seminary Applied Learning & Support.Early Childhood Centers & Elementary Schools. ![]()
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