Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on Social Sciences Humanities and Education
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Christian Faith and Pandemic: A Critical Study of Christian Religious Publication on Coronavirus
Oliver Dankwa Boateng
ABSTRACT:
In Christianity, God is seen as the source of hope in times of suffering. According to Rahman, et al, (2020), Coronavirus (Covid-19) patients accept their sufferings when they remember God. In the wake of the pandemic, religious coping methods were adopted to cope with stress. This study examines the construction of pandemic in Christian Religious Discourse. The study analyses Mark Finley’s publication titled
Pandemic,Pestilences,andProphecy. The study dwells on Mullet, (2018) General Analytical Framework for CDA. The study reveals that Christian religious discourse presents pandemic as suffering brought to man because of sin. Sin is seen as an intruder which causes suffering including pandemic. God is presented as not responsible for the suffering of humankind. The text presents the Christian belief that God created a perfect word devoid of suffering and attributes the suffering of the world to Satan. Finley legitimates the power of God as the one with ultimate power and when he redraws from the earth, destruction follows. The dominant discursive strategies found in the text include the use of questioning techniques, intertextuality, and modality and lexico-semantics choices. These discursive strategies help to develop the Christian ideology that suffering is caused by Satan and God always exhibit his love to humans amidst pandemics such as coronavirus.
keywords: Christian Religious Discourse, Coronavirus, discursive strategies, pandemic, God, Satan, pestilence