Book Review: Coronaspection World Religious Leaders Reflect on COVID-19

For many throughout the world, the pandemic has left no part of their lives unscathed. Even those who have managed to avoid contracting COVID 19 or losing a loved one to the virus, have seen their lives drastically impacted. Businesses have temporarily or permanently closed. Weddings, birthdays, and other celebrations have been curtailed or canceled. For those living in countries that have taken the pandemic seriously, daily activities that most take for granted such has going shopping, hanging out with friends at restaurants, etc. have at varying times, been, prohibited

Not surprisingly, religious institutions have also been drastically impacted by the pandemic. Religious leaders have not only had to grapple with the ramifications of the pandemic on their own lives and those of their families, but they have also had to care for those who look to them for spiritual care and advice. Religious leaders affiliated with mosques, temples, synagogues, and churches have had to deal with the logistical challenges of pivoting to virtual spaces or holding smaller meetings while also providing practical and spiritual comfort to members of their community. Religious traditions, no matter, how dissimilar they may be, have had to navigate very similar challenges. Coronaspection World Religious Leaders Reflect on COVID-19 by Alon Goshen-Gottstein seeks to examine the ways in which different religious traditions have responded to the pandemic and to provide readers, regardless of their religious tradition, with the tools to navigate the spiritual challenges posed by the pandemic.

It is important to note that Coronaspection World Religious Leaders Reflect on COVID-19 is tied to the Coronaspection video project created by the Elijah Interfaith Institute. The project includes interviews and/or messages from 40 major faith leaders. The faith leaders interviewed were asked a variety of questions dealing with how people should deal with the fear caused by the pandemic, God’s role or lack thereof in causing the pandemic, what opportunities and challenges does the pandemic present for individuals and for faith communities, and how will the world emerge different as a result of the pandemic? This book does not recount word for word each interview, instead it provides a summary and analysis of the major themes brought up by the faith leaders. While the book can be read without watching the interviews, the videos can help one better appreciate and understand Goshen-Gottstein’s summaries and analysis. Not to mention one can gain a fuller understanding of the faith leaders’ responses to the various questions.

Coronaspection World Religious Leaders Reflect on COVID-19 is divided into four chapters. The first section, “Introducing Coronaspection,” provides much needed background information regarding the birth of the project, its scope, difficulties and challenges presented by distance and language, as well as the project’s strengths and limitations. The second chapter, “Thematic Introspections,” is the heart of the book. This section is divided into smaller subdivisions. The interviews/messages are grouped together into trios under a thematic focus. For example, the first theme is, “What Is Corona? Theological Formulations.” Under this subdivision, Goshen-Gottstein introduces Patriarch Daniel (Romania), Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (India), Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (England) and summaries and analyzes their interviews. The other interviews are organized in a similar matter.The third chapter, “Coronaspection: What Have We Learned?” focuses on the seven questions that interviewers were asked and analyzes each question in detail and explores how religion functions during the pandemic. Chapter four, “Coronaspection Prayers” provides one example of a prayer from the different religious traditions represented in the book.

One of the strengths of this project was the wide variety of faith leaders profiled. I especially appreciated the commitment to ensure that women were represented, even if they belonged to faith traditions where women’s roles have historically and into the present day been much more limited. I also appreciated Goshen-Gottstein highlighting the similarities in responses between the different interviewees. For instance common themes included, the idea that God did not cause the pandemic in order to punish humanity, the importance of developing spiritual practices to help one navigate the pandemic, and the idea that the pandemic is forcing us to recognize that we are all interconnected to one another and to nature.

I do wish the book had more direct quotes and excerpts from the interview. While Goshen-Gottstein does occasionally quote directly from the interviews, he does so rarely. Of course, the purpose of the book is not to replicate the interviews word for word, but more quotes may have helped ground the analysis a bit more and help readers without a strong background in the different religious traditions, get a better grasp of the concepts being discussed.

In general, however, Coronaspection World Religious Leaders Reflect on COVID-19, is a fascinating read. And it is great that the book as well as the video project was produced and released while parts of the world continue to grapple with the project and can thus still benefit from the wisdom imparted by the interviewees. The book and video project will also be an extremely useful resource for future scholars and readers who want to explore religious responses to the pandemic.