In the Eye of the Storm: The Social Construction of the Forces of Nature and the Climatic and Seismic Construction of God in the Philippines (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Christian Response to the Filipino Understanding of National Disasters
Journal of Asian Mission, 2017
Multiple natural disasters happen in the Philippines every year, causing many to ask why they occur. This article explores the Filipino worldview in order to determine why Filipinos believe what they do about supernatural involvement in natural disasters. Two folk practices engaged by most Filipinos reflect this worldview: prayer to the Virgin Mary and Roman Catholic saints and town fiestas. A discussion follows of what the Bible teaches about the subject. Field research shows how members and supporters of Assemblies of God churches in the Leyte/ Samar region respond to these issues. Finally, the article proposes a biblical paradigm for worldview transformation. The original paper was part of a forum held by the Asian Theological Seminary in Manila in February 2015.
Coping with Disaster in The Philippines: Local practices for coping with natural disasters
Coping with Disaster in The Philippines: Local practices for coping with natural disasters, 2016
This master thesis is based on a fieldwork carried out in Tagbilaran, Bohol and Tacloban, Leyte in the Philippines the autumn of 2015. The Philippines is frequently exposed to natural disasters, and the inhabitants of the Philippines has developed local practices for coping, known as coping strategies, buffering mechanisms or coping mechanisms. This thesis describes and discusses these coping mechanisms in the light of the earthquake in Bohol late 2013, and typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan), which at the time was the strongest tropical storm to make landfall on record in late 2013. This thesis will also discuss how local practices of coping are overlooked by plans made by governmental agencies, and some of the possible consequences this can have on the local population, who no longer can rely on the coping mechanisms when they face disasters and adversity.
Al albab borneo journal iain Pontianak, 2015
This paper would like to map the religious response in a post-disaster community. In an academic discourse, a post-disaster community is one with abnormal conditions, including how it defines aspects of Divinity in their religious perspective. Thus, the complexity of issues that encompass a disaster hit community will shape the worldview, perspective, and the understanding of the relationship between human, God, nature, and religion, serves as the basic assumption of this research. So, there are several points that will be introduced in this paper including: first, the disaster typology from the perspective of the experts; second, the debate between the divine law and the law of nature in the context of disaster; and third, the religious response of the disaster-hit community over the history of the events of disaster. The research shows some important findings including the emergence of various forms of response about the events of disaster and their relation to human, God, nature, and religion itself. Since the concepts of disaster appear from a post-disaster society, on one side also require relationship which is able not only to respond to disasters but also to provide constructive solutions to the survival of the post-disaster community. Therefore, the stronger the religious normative doctrine of a person, the more difficult to bring closer to the context his survival not to mention life improvement. Nevertheless, in the majority of other communities that culturally experienced two sides of mass dilemma i.e. the theological concept of submission, patience and gratitude in the religious worldview of post-disaster community as the disaster not only happened to a person but also to many people.
Open Theology
The interpretation of disaster through a religious lens has produced diverse theological perspectives regarding disaster. This article seeks to analyze the theology of disaster from a Protestant perspective, which may be combined with local knowledge and modern science to create disaster response strategies. This study is based on field studies and related literature analysis with qualitative method using an ethno science approach to see disaster phenomena in the context of Indonesian society, using primary data and secondary data. This study finds out that within Christian theology and among its followers disasters can be seen as the means through which God glorifies His creation while punishing those who have sinned and abandoned His teachings. It concludes, first, that God – the Creator – shows His love and mercy even through disaster. In the Protestant perspective, God seeks to honor His creation by mercifully creating balance. Second, disaster, as part of a natural cycle, shoul...
Routledge eBooks, 2015
Why did the people of the Zambesi Delta affected by severe flooding return early to their homes or even choose to not evacuate? How is the forced resettlement of small-scale farmers living along the foothills of an active volcano on the Philippines impacting on their day-today livelihood routines? Making sense of such questions and observations is only possible by understanding how the decision-making of societies at risk is embedded in culture, and how intervention measures acknowledge, or neglect, cultural settings. The social construction of risk is being given increasing priority in understand how people experience and prioritize hazards in their own lives and how vulnerability can be reduced, and resilience increased, at a local level.
Do Filipino Catholics hold orthodox beliefs of the Church's doctrine on salvation during and after major disasters such as Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana)? To what extent their beliefs deviate from the Church's official teaching? This monograph which is based on a sociological study by the author aims to answer these questions. Using the narrative approach and Fr. Frank Lynch, S.J.'s conceptual framework on folk religiosity, it analyzed the prayers and religious stories of a group of urban poor Catholics who were victims by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 and currently relocated and neglected by the government in a remote and disaster-prone resettlement site in Rodriguez, Rizal.The results of the study showed that some of the Typhoon Ondoy victims' religious beliefs were unorthodox and folk and yet tolerable in the doctrinal standards of the Church. It also showed that poor and nominal Catholics which are thought to be non-religious are actually highly spiritual people as testified by the study’s informants.