Abstract
This chapter explores the growth of online celebrations of Communion in the Church of England in the context of a close reading of the Church’s inherited patterns of liturgy and ritual. It argues that the possibilities for online worship provided by the postdigital world are inviting the church to re-examine and renew its ritual practice, especially the ways in which the performance of liturgy enacts the church’s identity as the body of Christ, the ritual role of priest and people, and the nature of the church as both gathered and dispersed. Section one, ‘Communion and Community in a Time of Pandemic’, provides an overview of the Church’s experience of online Communion during the Covid-19 pandemic and the different theological responses it generated. Section two, ‘Communion and Ritual Practice’, discusses the Church’s inherited ritual practices, describing the key characteristics through which its sacramental theology and liturgical identity have been expressed. Section three, ‘Communion and Community in a Postdigital World’, brings this inherited tradition into dialogue with the patterns of online worship, and especially simultaneous Communion, described in section one, ‘Communion and Community in a Time of Pandemic’. It argues that the emergence of a postdigital world creates fresh possibilities for apprehending and drawing together the dispersed and gathered character of the church, and for integrating the material and spiritual dimensions of its sacramental life.
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Braddock, A. (2022). Communion and Community in a Postdigital World. In: Savin-Baden, M., Reader, J. (eds) Postdigital Theologies. Postdigital Science and Education . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09405-7_3
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