‘This is a Call of God … or is it?’: Narratives about Humans, God and Eschatology in the Dutch Reformed Pietist Community during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract In this study, we examine which narratives were put forward by key figures of the Dutch reformed pietist community during the COVID -19 pandemic. We analyse sermons and news articles from the period March–November 2020. We find, as expected, a dominant narrative of COVID -19 as God’s judgment, a calling to repentance and an event which emphasizes the need for prayer. Although the pandemic was seen as a call by God, the systematic origin of the virus (God/Satan/natural phenomena) remained rather ambiguous. More often it was stated that ‘everything falls under His providence’. The earth... Mehr ...