Cyber-Christianity in Qatar: “Migrant” and “Expat” Theologies of COVID-19

<p dir="ltr">In the year 2020, COVID-19 wreaked havoc on everyday life in the Persian Gulf. Yet little is known about how non-citizens responded to a virus that inexorably exposed their transience and precarity. This article addresses a much-neglected aspect of local responses to COVID-19, namely, how non-citizens made sense of the virus theologically. Drawing on existing scholarship on cyber religion and migrant religiosity in the Gulf, I examine the theological responses of a distinctive subset of non-citizens –– Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians in Qatar. My approach, rooted in digital ethnographic methods, led me to uncover divergent theological responses to COVID-19 among lower-income “migrants” and higher-income “expats”. Lower-income “migrants” sought spiritual remedies to counter what they deemed to be a man-made virus, whereas higher-income “expats” strove for spiritual perfection during what they believed was a divine trial. Working through these divergent theological responses, I argue that both “migrants” and “expats” built stronger affinities to their host state during the pandemic as they developed new forms of spiritual <i>communitas</i> online.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: Journal of Arabian Studies<br>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2021.1979472" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2021.1979472</a></p>