Seminar: Providence, Apocalypse, and the Pandemic with ISCAST Fellow Neil Ormerod

ISCAST Fellow Professor Neil Ormerod will be speaking for the last seminar in the 2020-2021 Seminar Series Theologising in the Shadow of a Pandemic, an initiative of the Sydney College of Divinity Theology Research Network. This is a free seminar, and an excellent opportunity to reflect theologically on our global situation.

To RSVP, contact Neil at neilo@scd.edu.au.

ABSTRACT

Any major upheaval such as the present pandemic raises two profound theological questions: why does a provident God allow such things to happen? And, is this a foreshadowing of an apocalyptic end time? Both involve an attempt to understand the role and purpose of history in God’s creation. Where is God taking us, where is human history destined to go?

In the end, this paper argues that our view of providence is inseparable from our basic trust in God. Do we view God as infinite loving wisdom and wise loving or do we fear that there is, in the end, some darkness in God that makes God unworthy of our trust and more a bargaining partner? What role then will Covid have in human history for good and for evil that it too can be encompassed in divine providence? These are the questions that will be explored in this paper.

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