Sacramental Stories - Church in the age of Covid
Season 1, Episode 8, May 04, 2021, 11:00 AM
In this episode of the Go Health podcast Gillian chats with Professor John Stackhouse, he is a Canadian theologian, author, journalist and academic, and currently is the Professor of Religious Studies at Crandall University in Canada.
Amongst many things, they discuss:
- The two different responses of the church being distanced even further - that of social action and that of evangelism, the interior response and the material response - both styles of Christianity are under stress.
- The identify loneliness and isolation as one of the greatest challenges from Covid.
- Prof Stackhouse shares a theological understanding of the closeness of God.
- They explore the context of suffering from Covid and the consequences in the wider context of many people already suffering regularly across the world.
- The discuss the issues that Covid has brought to light including class differences and racism.
- They consider the question of our time.
- The suggest that a Christian life should be a healthy life.
- They unpack vocational epistemology - ‘God will give us what we need to do the things we need to do.’
- Prof. Stackhouse suggests the church needs to recover its priorities and set them in proper order.
- He shares from his wife’s experience with chronic pain, how we can avoid letting pain or hurt becoming central in our lives.
- They explore the healing potential of a cup of tea.
- They consider what to be hopeful for and how the church might respond to Covid-19.