Page - 213 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 4:1

213 | www.limina-graz.eu Call for Papers – LIMINA 5:1 | A disinfected society becomes charged with symbolic meaning. It acts as a counter-force to the subversive deconstruction of social divides by reactivating and redrawing old lines in the sand. As a result, we already find ourselves amidst a new ‘society of suspicion’ where everyone poses a threat and no one is innocent. This situation calls on politics to act and prevent clinical categories of the current health emergency from being transformed into socio-political an- tagonisms that give rise to new paradigms of division: immunitas versus communitas, the young and healthy versus the sick and old, open socie- ties versus closed societies, etc. A societal imperative of social and physical distancing can quickly embed itself in individual and socio-political bod- ies and pivot developments of collectivism to perpetual mistrust. There is a vital urgency to critically engage with the apparent and observable changes in the present as well as their consequences that are set to determine our future. A new edition (5:1, 2022) of LIMINA – Theological Perspectives from Graz will critically examine this context and ask pertinent questions pertain­ ing to an immunised/disinfected society ‘post corona’ from an interdis­ ciplinary perspective. The following suggested topics may be of particular interest: ̟ How does the societal experience of an increasingly intensifying crisis impact the dialectics of freedom and safety and the corre- sponding dynamics between democracy and power? ̟ Does the age-old human need for safety and protection allow for alternative approaches and solutions beyond a hygiene-driven bio politics that could be detrimental to the relationship between individuals and societies in the long-term? ̟ What lies underneath the archaic fear of infection? ̟ What exactly is it that infects people and societies? What can they pass on or contract? ̟ How does this impact education? To what extent does this impact or can be expected to impact on the physical and mental health of young people? ̟ How can we understand and deal with the current situation based on theological, philosophical, ethical, cultural-anthropological or sociological concepts of hygiene, corporeality, health/illness, in- fectiousness and death?