Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty

by Walter Brueggemann

Why bother with the interpretive categories of biblical faith when in fact our energy and interest are focused on more immediate matters? The answer is simple and obvious. We linger because, in the midst of our immediate preoccupation with our felt jeopardy and our hope for relief, our imagination does indeed range beyond the immediate to larger, deeper wonderments. Our free-ranging imagination is not finally or fully contained in the immediacy of our stress, anxiety, and jeopardy. Beyond these demanding immediacies, we have a deep sense that our life is not fully contained in the cause-and-effect reasoning of the Enlightenment that seeks to explain and control. There is more than that and other than that to our life in God’s world!

Genres: Theology, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Health, Church, Faith

92 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2020

About the author

Walter Brueggemann was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociopolitical imagination of the Church. He argued that the Church must provide a counter-narrative to the dominant forces of consumerism, militarism, and nationalism.

Reviews

[Josh Olds · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of you reading this in the distant future, somehow unaware of “these unprecedented times” (which, in truth, are very precedented, just not to this generation), the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the world. As of 5/8, the date of this review’s publication, there have been over 4 million cases and almost 280,000 deaths.

Pastors the world over have struggled to lead congregations through these difficult times, both in terms of administration and in terms of theology. In the West, the very concept of plague seems at odds with a loving God. In the West, the theology of celebration has overtaken any theology of lament. And so, many have been asking how they should respond in faith to these times.

Virus as a Summons to Faith is short, pastoral epistle that explores the precedent within Scripture to help us through these alleged unprecedented times. With a pastor’s heart and an academic’s intellect, Walter Brueggemann doesn’t offer pat answers or easy explanations. He really doesn’t offer any answers at all. Brueggemann seems to realize that answers aren’t the answer, but that rather the answer to this pandemic can be found in what we—in our partnership with YHWH through the Spirit—will make of it.

Brueggemann’s tone throughout the book is pastoral, grandfatherly, and refreshing. He writes “any serious crisis is a summons for us to reread the Bible afresh” and that he hopes that this work will be seen as “an attempt to stand in solidarity” with those currently in ministry, navigating this crisis. I must say that, at least for myself, he has had quite the success.

Virus as a Summons to Faith is a short volume—eighty-some pages—and is divided seven reflections on seven different Old Testament texts. Each chapter tackles some aspect of human response, whether toward God or toward others, or seeks to help us reconcile God’s sovereignty with the existence of natural evil.

As a pastor struggling to connect with my church in this time and lead them through a situation that is wholly unprecedented to our generation, Brueggemann’s gentle reminder that we have thousands of years of Scriptural precedent is reassuring. Virus as a Summons to Faith encourages believers to use this time to draw closer to God and examine our treatment of others.

Brueggemann encourages us to preach that God will not rest until he brings beauty from ashes and asks us to stand as witnesses of God’s tenacious solidarity as we craft a “new normal” out of this pandemic that bests the “old normal” by far. He returns continually to the good we’ve already seen come from this pandemic, particularly in our treatment of both our neighbors and our enemies. He sees this virus as an opportunity for humanity to escape the egocentrism and consumerism of the modern world and turn toward a greater realization of God’s Kingdom.

I particularly appreciated how Brueggemann upholds God’s majesty, mystery, and sovereignty within the coronavirus. There is always a tension to be held between God’s sovereignty and omnipotence and the existence of natural evil. Some would deny God’s knowledge or control, stating that he does not hold power over a virus. Others would uphold God’s knowledge and control, but to the extent to portray God as creator and enactor of the virus.

Brueggemann surveys the biblical data and returns with three possibilities:

It is possible to think about a transactional quid pro quo; we reap what we sow in a world governed by the creator God. Some practice and policies may evoke wrath. So Job and his friends!
It is possible to think about the purposeful mobilization of the negative forces of creation to perform the intention of the creator God, plagues that defy every “high tower” and every “fortified wall.”
It is possible to pause before God’s raw holiness in a world that is not tamed by our best knowledge. (p. 18)
Brueggemann merely offers all three options as precedent. He does not say much on which he believes it to be, nor do I think he wants to or need to. He does not offer an answer, but merely points us to the reality that our faith is not without answers. And that we must live in the tension of what that precedent means for us today. Which of these three, if any, may never be known. Now is the time for lament and action.

Virus as a Summons to Faith is a deeply pastoral and comforting. In a world where fingers are being pointed at all sides, where new conspiracies pop up daily, and where reasonable discussion is almost entirely absent, Brueggemann clears aside the clutter and encourages us to resist, persist, and assist amid this crisis.

On a technical note, the latter two chapters are adapted from previously published journal articles and, as such, do not always have the same tone or feel as the freshly-written chapters. They were originally written at different times for a different purpose to a different audience and, although their use in this volume is appropriate, they do come across as more formal and less conversational.

I’ve been a bit wary of this new genre I’m calling “coronabooks.” Many pastors and theologians have felt the need to respond publicly to the coronavirus and the result is…mixed…at best. Books take time to write and proof and publish. If you write on the specifics on the coronavirus or government response, you will find yourself obsolete the next week. If you focus on the precedent found in Scripture, you must still deal with the difficulty of addressing an audience in a vastly different situation than the one you wrote in. And all of this is aside the practical and technical necessities of editing, publishing, and printing a book in so little time. Virus as a Summons to Faith is not immune to those inherent difficulties and has already been revised for a second printing.

Of the “coronabooks” I’ve read thus far, Brueggemann’s is without a doubt the best in terms of quality, tone, and relevance past the crisis. Virus as a Summons to Faith, through focusing on Scriptural precedent, will have the staying power to remain instructive for both future crises and as a retrospective on the current crisis. It has been a tether holding me to the Rock amid this storm.

[Susan Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

The devotions and prayers at the end of each chapter are profound and helpful!

[J Percell Lakin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timeless Brueggemann

Instead of offering any kind of certitude for the the virus our world is navigating, Brueggemann, in his normal prophetic way, invites readers to truly reflect personally and also to reflect as people of faith who live in a larger world, the ways in which disruptions like a pandemic, can offer a way to engage with the free God who cannot be managed, packaged, or controlled. This book was challenging in all the ways you’d expect to be challenged from Brueggemann, but it was also deeply comforting as readers are reminded that God is merciful and will meet us in gracious new ways - as long as we are patient and are okay relinquishing the world that was.

[Tim Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good food for thought. Authors writing style is a bit unnecessarily dense and not as conversational in tone as “God and the Pandemic” which I read along with this one but like G & P touches on the theology of lament and the importance of “the groan” which is heartbreakingly absent from many contemporary evangelical circles as they dismiss the pandemic and the necessary response it demands.

The prayers at the end of each Chapter are beautiful and moving.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only a Brueggemann or an N.T. Wright can crank out a book on a topic that is less than six months old. Unsurprisingly, “Virus as a Summons to Faith” is not all new content. It is a short collection of seven essays (and accompanying prayers), two of which have appeared elsewhere.

As is typically true of Brueggemann, much of the reading is mundane but with moments of profound insight. Brueggemann does not attempt to give concrete answers on why God allowed (caused?) the coronavirus to happen. Rather, he examines texts regarding pestilence, natural disasters, and exile and draws parallels with our COVID-19 experience.

Here’s a brief summary of the essays:

1. “Reaping the Whirlwind” - Brueggemann looks at the three ways the Hebrew Bible interpreted catastrophes: (1) “a transactional quid pro quo,” (2) “a purposeful mobilization of negative force,” and (3) “a raw holiness that refuses and defies our best explanations.” Brueggemann says that in our post-Enlightenment world, none of these are acceptable. However, the church also does not accept that Enlightenment rationality has all the answers. Therefore, we must accept wonderment and reject easy answers. At the end of the day, I guess I agree with Brueggemann here, but I just want someone smarter than me to give me a concrete answer!

2. “Pestilence . . . Mercy? Who Knew?” - Brueggemann looks at the passage where YHWH gives David three options for judgment: the sword, the plague, or the famine. David chooses the plague because he would rather trust the judgment of YHWH (and mercy!) than judgment at the hands of fellow men.

3. “Until the Dancing Begins Again” - This was one of two standout essays for me. Brueggemann starts out by mentioning how graduations and weddings have been cancelled because of the virus. He then draws parallels with the book of Jeremiah where the prophet proclaims that with the coming of exile, there will be a cessation of feasts and weddings. However, later in Jeremiah, the prophet trusts in the mercy of YHWH and hopes for the return of feasts and weddings. From a discussion of these themes, Brueggemann draws out two ways that we are called to be faithful in the midst of the pandemic: (1) We are called to engage in relentless, uncompromising hope and (2) We are called to be witnesses to the abiding [covenantal] love of God that persists amid pestilence.

4. “Praying Amid the Virus” - Interestingly, Brueggemann juxtaposes words of Solomon, Barth, and Trump! He analyzes one of Solomon’s prayers and looks at the links between prayer and pestilence. Brueggemann urges us to put aside propagandistic and magical thinking.

5. “The ‘Turn’ from Self to God” - Brueggemann provides an exposition of Ps. 77 and demonstrates how the speaker moves from “a preoccupation with self to a submission to and reliance upon God.”

6. “God’s New Thing” - This is the shortest essay in the collection and is largely a repetition of ideas in earlier essays. Brueggemann muses about the possibility of a “new normal” where prisoners are treated better, the needy are provided for, and lenders are more generous. I find this overly optimistic (especially in June 2020 following the deaths of Arbery, Taylor, and Floyd, the violence that ensued, and the president’s dictator-like actions).

7. “The Matrix or Groan” - In my opinion, this the other strong essay in this collection. Brueggemann cleverly links the groaning of the Israelites in Egypt with the crying out of the stones at the triumphal entry and the groaning of creation in Romans 8. He then explains how groaning always precedes new creation (think birth pangs). Is the pandemic merely birth pangs preceding a new creation? Again, I think Brueggemann is being too optimistic but it is an interesting thought to consider.

Overall, this is the worth the read (it will only take about an hour and a half of your time). It won’t give you any definitive answers or comfort regarding the coronavirus and the pandemic, but it will stimulate your imagination, allowing you to think creatively about the coronavirus and the pandemic.

[Steve Johgart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brueggemann, as an Old Testament scholar, goes to the Old Testament to find spiritual meaning and relevance to our current situation. One aspect of his discussion I was surprised by was his final chapter. It speaks about the necessity of the “groan”, the difficult time of transition between the old and the new, in transformative periods. What I was surprised by was how much this observation was similar to that of my atheist friend Terry. Both Terry and I, like Brueggemann, have viewed the irrational and destructive complacency and exploitativeness of comfort-and-pleasure society (Terry attributes this specifically to capitalism, but I see it manifesting in “advanced” societies of other economic systems as well). I have expressed my discomfort with critiques and destructive actions toward that social structure that doesn’t also include a vision of what comes next. Terry has maintained that he doesn’t feel that necessity, that a transition from the final stages of this current social system (or what Brueggemann would, I think, characterize as “old creation”) will by necessity be painful, will unavoidably be infused with what Brueggemann refers to as the “groan”, but that he believes (I would say has faith) that the new social order (or new creation) will be better than the current one. Brueggemann does present a brief summary of what the new and better creation will embody, but gives no specifics of the social manifestation, and emphasizes more the pending groan than the subsequent new reality. Terry as atheist does not involve any God in that belief; Brueggemann as a person of faith of course does, and ends each chapter with an excellent prayer - other than that, this book would indicate that they are in agreement.

Brueggemann: “...the ideology of the global economy and its match in buoyant religious affirmation are, in deep ways, an act of denial, a practice of getting from there to here without any acknowledgment of the trouble or trauma or the cost of newness. It is known among us that the new creation, from the human side, is a new network of care that requires the end of domination and exploitation, the end of controlling truth and monopolies of certitude, the end of an oil-based comfort that makes every day one of ease, comfort, luxury, extravagance, and self-indulgence. ...... For the cycles of denial can only be broken among us by the truth of groan.”

[E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

"These dangers, however, are not decisive for what is possible or for what is required in the world. Thus war, pestilence, and famine are finally seen as accountable to the creator God, who presides even over such disasters. Virus is thereby robbed of its capacity to disorder daily life. In effect, these texts decisively change the subject from disaster to the rule of YHWH. Such a changed subject revises how we may live in the neighborhood when it is under threat."

Finished in early April, this book might have been most helpful then. But it seems to me not to deal as substantively with the current ambiguities and uncertainties of the crisis as well as I had hoped. Some of the best parts of the book are prayers he has written between the chapters and which I'm certain I will use liturgically. And, as always with Brueggeman, some lines and paragraphs that will be useful for preaching.

But I felt that theologically and biblically it didn't give me the meat I need right now. N. T. Wright has also released a book on the pandemic, which I have preordered but won't arrive until July.

[Dani Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

He could have published the essays as he was writing them, instead of trying to write a book. It wasn't illuminating. It isn't my first encounter with Brueggemann, so I was already familiar with his theology, and I felt he had nothing new to add here. It is also obvious that he wrote this at the very beginning of the pandemic and it only addresses the issues we were facing then. A whole world of existential dread has happened since then. Perhaps we have gotten to the point when we think that Brueggemann should share his opinion on everything, without considering whether he actually has something worthy to say about it. As a classmate of mine asked: "whose voices are we not hearing because we are listening to the same white men?" This book definitely shows that Brueggemann lives in an ivory tower and has not had to face the intense fears and hardships brought on by the pandemic.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dette er en af flere korte bøger, der er skrevet i hast og udkommet i 2020 med det formål at give et bibelsk / teologisk perspektiv på det at være menneske og kristen i en tid med global pandemi (se også Tom Wrights "God and the Pandemic" og John Lennox' "Where is God in a Coronavirus World?").
Her gør Brueggemann (en af verdens førende forskere i Det Gamle Testamente) det, som han gør bedst. Han kommer ikke med nogen letkøbte betragtninger eller råd. Han tager læseren med ind i en række refleksioner (der kan læses uafhængigt af hinanden) over G&T-tekster, der på forskellige måder afspejler det at være menneske i relation til Gud igennem svære tider uden lette svar. Det er meget inspirerende og vækker til megen konstruktiv eftertanke.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief but theologically dense examination of faith expressions during pandemics and pestilence taken mostly from Hebrew Testament scholarship. Brueggemann examines the different ways in which the Israelites interpret their experiences of famine and pestilence as a challenge to our own lives of faith in the midst of adversity. He calls us to prayer and to turn away from self and reminds us that both exile and the cross lead to new worlds and new hope that only result from the groaning travail of childbirth. What I most enjoyed about Brueggman's response to the pandemic were the prayers he composed at the end of each chapter. They were meaningful and plaintive and very powerful.

[Austin Mathews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brueggemann is a brilliant scholar, but some of these biblical reflections during COVID already feel outdated months later. They sometimes instill hope, but often come off as lofty and nebulous. His quoting Trump twice in chapter introductions is off-putting and weird. The book’s editor also did not spend enough time combing through its spelling and stilted prose. However, the book’s highlight is B’s prayer called “The Giver of Bread and Fish.” It is a bold, resonant cry to God. Overall though, this is not as promising during this crazy time as it wants to be.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

From groaning to hope and new life in the midst of pandemic

Through scriptural interpretation and prayer, Dr. Brueggeman’s treatment of the current situation of global pandemic and environmental destruction gives us freedom to groan in our fear and suffering, to admit to our human culpability, to strive to let go of the past in order to live more compassionately in the present, and to hope in the everlasting and creative love of God.

[Kensy Joseph sj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prophetic work for Covid times

Walter Brueggemann’s expertise as both biblical scholar and preacher is evident in this short work as he draws from the Bible, especially the Old Testament prophets, to address the Covid crisis. He echoes the call of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah for Israel to abandon its self-reliance and injustice and return to God.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenging, bracing for God to be doing "a new thing," without apparent regard for our opinion about it. A call to change from our perpetual self-orientation toward the Thou of God, and to trust in God.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was mainly written for pastors but Brueggermann is always good and leaves the reader with many things to ponder. I read this in a devotions class and without the input of the pastor and other class members there were parts that would not have been as meaningful.

[Chris Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brueggemann does an amazing job of putting this pandemic in perspective in relation to the Old Testament. As always, his deep knowledge and unique understanding help me grow and learn.

[Tom Helmick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be insightful, practical, and profound. Brueggeman is a wise and talented writer.

[Iter Meum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time well passed. The last chapter definitely gives us something to think about.

[leroy king · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Good book easy to read really enjoyed reading this book challenging but thought provoking made me think about the virus in different ways.

[Dustin G. Longmire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I’ve read on understanding the theological implications of COVID yet.

[Patricia Eichenlaub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a help in these days of moaning and groaning.

[Dora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenging and thought-provoking.

[Linda Cirillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect reading for these pandemic times.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of Bruggemann’s other stuff on theodicy but applied to the current pandemic; this thin book is definitely worth a read.

[Glauber Ribeiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regrettably (justifiably or not), the world has gotten used to look to the Christian community for facile, quid-pro-quo interpretations of natural disasters (aka "acts of God"!). "It's because we sinned." "It's all the Pope's fault." "Because Obama!"

However, it's part of the Christian's responsibility towards the world, to provide grown-up, reasonable commentary of this disaster, in responsible conversation with science. This book is a good start, and a great resource.

I end with a quote from the conclusion of the first chapter:

In our imagined autonomy we have, in the global narrative, been on a spree of self-indulgence and self-actualization that has exercised little regard for the neighbor. And now we are required to wonder more deeply. It is the work of the preacher to authorize and guide such wonderment. The end of such wonder may happily come in the form of a vaccine. But its beginning is in the fear of the Lord. This is a lesson learned always too late, too late for Pharaoh, too late for Nebuchadnezzar . . . always too late . . . or just in time!

[Rob Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walter Brueggemann always provides good reflection grounded in solid biblical understanding. There is excellent food for thought here as we contemplate the learning from this pandemic.