Public Release: 23-Aug-2016 University of Würzburg A beautiful and pious widow rescues her town and the whole people of Israel from the army of the Assyrian general Holofernes. This story is told in the Book of Judith in the Old Testament. The condensed version is as follows: The Assyrians besiege the mountain stronghold of…
Coping with the COVID Crisis
One of the best gifts I received this past year was a face mask (because those were the kinds of presents that people gave in 2020). Printed on the front are the updated words of Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther: “Here I Stand…You Stand Over There.” As a Reformation scholar educating students at Wheaton College in the midst of a modern pandemic, it was the perfect gift, levity included.
We have all been finding different ways to cope with the shock and grief that came last year and continues with the global spread of COVID-19 as the doors to our churches, schools, and businesses were closed, and our gatherings moved online. The losses piled up and compounded. Delayed weddings. Cancelled graduations. Unattended funerals. Disrupted education. Lost jobs. Lives cut short, most importantly. Pictures of the deserted streets of Chicago began circulating looking like something out of a dystopian movie. Only the microscopic could halt the bustle of the