The Theologising in the Shadow of a Pandemic seminar series is an initiative of the Sydney College of Divinity Theology Research Network. This is the second seminar in the series conducted which will culminate in a conference in late 2021.

The seminars offers an opportunity to reflect theologically on our global situation. As theologians we have a responsibility to our churches and to the broader community to reflect theologically on our current plight. The present Covid-19 pandemic has been the cause of massive social, economic and religious dislocation. It will impact on personal relations, long term financial and employment issues, how we view our international connections and of course our relationship with God and our church communities. We have an opportunity to bring the resources of our faith traditions to bear, not to provide definitive answers but to explore these resources and share them both within our churches and with the larger society.

The seminar is online. Register your interest with Professor Neil Ormerod,  [email protected]. Closer to the date of the seminar you will receive a link to connect online.

Program

Latin American Theology and the Pandemic

Abstract

Theologians are tasked with analysing and interpreting the ‘signs of the times’. We will attempt to address the Pandemic as a sign of our times, using the lens of Latin American theology. This incorporates a theology of signs of the times, the poor and vulnerable as the point of departure, and the methodology of see-judge-act.

In an eschatological view of history the vulnerable are highlighted by the cross of Jesus and from them we respond to the question ‘Where is God in our fragile world?’

Presenter – Dr Rocio Figueroa 

Dr Rocio Figueroa is a Peruvian Theologian, Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Catholic Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand and an External Researcher at the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at Otago University. She holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. She has previously lectured and worked in Peru, Italy, and Mexico. She worked in the Holy See as head of the Women’s section in the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Figueroa’s research has focused on theological and pastoral responses for survivors of Church sexual abuse.

Respondent – Carlos Guzman

Carlos Guzman is a PhD student with the Sydney College of Divinity from Chile, working on the Ethics of Liberation of Enrique Dussel.