Theodicy and Anthropogenic: A Theology of Disasters in the wake of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

History bears testimony to the revolutionary nature of disasters both natural and anthropogenic. As the adage goes, ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’ major ideological shifts and religious innovations emerged out of a crisis of necessity. When the COVID-19 Pandemic appeared in the last month of the year 2019, the World Health Organization DirectorGeneral, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hinted that with the new virus, the world will never be the same again and people should brace for a new normal. This article interrogates the traditional understanding of theodicy in light of modern anthropogenic studies. The argument in
this article is in favor of a new systematic theology of disaster based on the contribution of human beings to natural evils.