‘ICawa ivaliwe’: The Church During the Pandemic

• Main Author: Dr Thembelani Jentile
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Africajournals 2020-09-01
• Series: Pharos Journal of Theology
• Subjects: coronavirus; covid-19 pandemic; sunday; dualism; spirituality; incarnation
• Online Access: https://www.pharosjot.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_36_vol_101__2020__ufs.pdf

The closure of Sunday services during the national lockdown created an uproar among the Christian faithful in South Africa. For many, it was an infringement of their right to public worship and a direct attack on their Christian faith. This article argues that the uproar could have been caused by the underlying Christendom theology, which has led many African Christians to focus on Sunday as the ‘great day’, rendering Christianity a ‘Sunday cult’. This is because between the second and the seventh centuries, the church became more dualistic, attractional, and hierarchical. Alas, Christendom, as a paradigm of comprehension, still exercises an overweening influence on our prevailing theological, missiological, and ecclesiological understanding in church circles. It is suggested that for the church to be relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, it must ‘adopt the African worldview’, ‘redefine itself as a “who” rather than a “what”’, and ‘reconsider the incarnation principle’.