Covid-19 as paideia: reviewing the theological meaning of Covid-19 based on concept of the paideia in Hebrews 12:4-13

Samuel Benyamin Hakh

Abstract


Discussions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic have been carried out by experts in the field of theology. They understood the pandemic as only punishment from God. The question that arises is, is the Covid-19 pandemic, solely a punishment from God? This question arises because, if God is only understood as an angry God, then that view will lead people to understand that God is evil. This article aims to examine the theological meaning of the Covid-19 pandemic based on the idea of paideia in Hebrews 12:4-13. My thesis is, Covid-19 is not only a form of punishment but also a manifestation of God's love as well. The research method I use is qualitative research. Through that method, I offer a new perspective on the meaning of Covid-19 and demonstrate the theological meaning of Covid-19 as a form of education from God to shape human character for a better future.

Keywords


Covid-19; Hebrews; holiness; love; paideia; punishment

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bernard of Clairvaux, Songs of Songs I, sermon 6.6-9, trans. Kilian J. Walsh and Irene M. Edmonds (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1971).

Bromiley, Geoffrey W.; ???Paideia??", in Gerhard Kittel (ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New

Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1985).

Coetsee, A.J., ???Hebrews 12:9 revisited: The background of the phrase ??Sand live???", HTS

Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 76.1 (2020): 1-11.

Croy, N. Clayron; Endurance in Suffering: Hebrews 12.1??13 in Its Rhetorical, Religious, and

Philosophical Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Davis, Ellen F.; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, ed. Patrick D. Miller, David L.

Bartlett (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox, 2000).

Deguma, Jabin J., at al, ???Where is the Church in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic: Preferring

the Poor via G. Gutierrez??" ??SLiberation? and the Catholic Church??"s Social Teaching in

the Philippine Setting??", The Journal of Social and Political Studies, 3.2,(2020): 363-

Elsner, Jas; ???Paideia: Ancient Concept and Modern Reception??" International Journal of the

Classical Tradition 20.4 (2013):136-152

Farhan Bashir, Muhammad Farhan; at.al. ???Correlation between climate indicators and

COVID-19 pandemic in New York, USA??", Science of the Total Environment (2020):

-4.

George, Jibu Matthew; ???Stocktaking in the Time of A Pandemic: Atypical Philosophical,

Theological, and Other Observations??", Journal of Dharma 45.2 (April-June 2020):

-278.

Hermanto, Yanto Paulus; ???True Response To COVID-19 plague Reviewed From The

Perspective Of Christian Faith??", IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science 25.5

(May 2020): 33-36.

Isa Irawan, Mohammad Isa; et al, ???Application of Needleman-Wunch Algorithm to identify mutation in DNA sequences of Coronavirus??", Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1218 (2019): 1-13.

Jaeger, Werner; Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, vol. 1, trans. Gilbert Highet (Oxford:

Basil Blackwell, 1946).

Johnson, Luke Timothy; Hebrews, A Commentary, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John

Knox, 2006).

Lincoln, Andrew T. ; ???Reading Hebrews in a Time of Pandemic: Heroism and Hope in the

Face of Fear??", The Expository Times, 131.11 (2020): 471-479. DOI: 10.1177/0014524620946689

Long, V, Philips; 1 and 2 Samuel: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).

Longman III, Tremper; Proverbs (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006).

Meyers, Carol; Exodus, The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge, New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Naryono, Endang; ???Impact of National Disaster COVID-19, Indonesia Towards Economic

Recession??", COVID-19 Indonesian Research Repository (2020), 1 http://sinta.ristekbrin.go.id/covid/penelitian/detail/5 Accesed 12-12-2020.

Nicola, Maria; et.al., ???The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic

(COVID-19): A review??", International Journal of Surgery 78 (Apr 2020):185??193). doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.04.018

Nuraini, Nuning; Kamal Khairudin, and Mochamad Apri, ???Modeling Simulation of COVID-

in Indonesia based on EarlyEndemic Data??", Communication in Biomathematical Sciences, 3.1, (2020): 1-8

O ??" Brien, Peter T.; The Letter to the Hebrews: The Pillar New Testament Commentary

(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010).

Pityana, Barney; ???How Christian Theology helps us make sense of the pandemic??" South African Journal of Science 16.7/8 (2020): 1. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8498

Spellman, Ched; ???The Drama of Discipline: Toward an Intertextual Profile of Paideia in

Hebrew 12??", JETS 59/3 (2016): 487??506

Sukmanal, Mayusef; Aminuddin, Muhammad and Nopriyanto, Dwi ???Indonesian Government

Response in COVID-19 Disaster Prevention,? East African Scholars Journal of Medical Science, Volume-3, Issue-3, (Mar-2020), 81-86. DOI 10.36349/EASMS.2020.v03i03.025

Thiessen, Matthew; ???Hebrews 12.5??13, the Wilderness Period, and Israel??"s Discipline??", NTS

(2009): 366-79.

Thomson, James W.; Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008).

Wessling, Jordan; ???How Does a Loving God Punish? On the Unification of God??"s Love and

Punitive Wrath??", International Journal of Systematic Theology 19.4 (Oct 2017), 421-423. DOI: 10.1111/ijst.12246 ISBN: 1468-2400

https://covid19.who.int/?gclid Accessed 12/12/2020




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30995/kur.v7i1.256

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Author

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.