
Saints Informed by Science

Since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, church responses have sought guidance in scripture and church history, invoking multiple framings of the novel coronavirus: punishment, a test, satanic temptation, a lesson in which isolation becomes the essence of the Passion, a war for the chosen people to fight – narratives that personify the virus in a conditional moral and spiritual framework, in which Religion has a performative role, as this paper will show. However, these narrative patterns have been just as commonly utilised outside religious circles, in which they have a long history.
This paper will, first, provide a structured overview of these narratives’ use in religious, scientific and political journalism. A case study on the use of ‘sacrifice’ and ‘war’ narrative, will, secondly, suggest in more detail the functions and pitfalls of this rhetoric. Finally, a comparison with how these same narratives operated, historically, in the highly influential ‘Cholera Sermons’ of Charles Kingsley. Thus, the paper will show productive narrative techniques in action, crystallising techniques for faith communities to enable them to communicate productively, and with confidence, in a scientific and social crisis.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
In this guest blog post, Professor Ken Miles casts a scientific eye over the interior of his local church. Ken is an academic radiologist and author of “From Billiard Balls to Bishops: a scientist’s...
As someone who has only recently joined the ECLAS team, covering for Helen Billam as Communications Manager, I am impressed by what the team has achieved under the 2020-2023 grant from the Templeton Religion Trust....
ECLAS Programme Associate Judith Harbinson speaks to Nick Spencer, Senior Fellow at Theos Think Tank, about his new book, Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (Oneworld Publications, 2023). Judith Harbinson: What was your...