The End of the World and Science-led Religious Pedagogies Coronavirus as a Curtain-Raiser for Doomsday?
- September 23, 2021
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VIII, August 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186
Tarcisius Mukuka
Mulungushi University, Great North Road, P.O. Box 80415, Kabwe10101, Central Province, Zambia
Abstract: This article aims to correct religious pedagogies that teach the end-of-the-world conspiracy theories to the effect that Coronavirus or any natural pandemic has anything to do with it as a sort of dress rehearsal for doomsday. The significance of the paper lies in contributing to Science-led Religious pedagogies in tertiary institutions being able to assure the learner or inculcate the notion that while Coronavirus or any pandemic may literally spell the end of the world for any of us in the blink of an eye and already has done so for some four million people worldwide, Science-led Religious Studies pedagogies should assure us that the planet’s demise is literally billions of years away, notwithstanding the ravages of global warming and climate change or the warnings of some world Scriptures, especially of the Abrahamic religions. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown conditions in which research led to this article, the author used secondary research or desk research as a research method. This involved collecting and interpreting already existing data, especially on the internet and social media. Using hermeneutics of suspicion, the author was able to get beyond the surface of conspiracy theories surrounding the end of the world due to Covid-19. The article contributes to the body of knowledge on the end of the world by giving an alternative apocalyptic interpretation that sees apocalypse as a positive oral metaphor for cosmic renewal. The article concludes that rather than compute the minute, hour, day, month and year of the demise of planet earth due to Coronavirus or any pandemic, our efforts are best expended in striving to be our authentic selves, being our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers by taking good care of the common habitat we call earth and plugging ourselves to whatever deity or deities we profess.
Key words: Covid-19 pandemic; end of the world; apocalypse; doomsday; hermeneutics of suspicion
