"This volume contains a collection of 12 chapters discussing the theme of the book, which focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications that this crisis holds for the church in the future. The main matter being examined in this book is the ecclesiological challenges and opportunities present
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ed by digital technology in relation to its widespread use in the life of the church during the health crisis. The book is divided into three sections. “The first part re-examines traditional vocabulary and understandings of digital church. The second section explores specific examples of ecclesiological shifts during the pandemic. The final section looks to the future of the Church in the digital age, offering insight and recommendations for a way forward.” One of the highlights of this book is that it gathered the wisdom and insights from scholars from a variety of disciplines and theological traditions as well as geographical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, the theology of the Church in the digital age being considered and deepened in this volume is not of a particular denomination, but of Christianity taken as a whole." (https://www.asianresearchcenter.org)
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"Despite the wide-ranging topics presented in this collection, this volume takes ‘communication’ as the keyword for the various research and reflections on the life and mission of the Catholic Church during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as post-crisis. The reader will readily recognize that what
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is referred to as ‘communication’ here is an extremely elastic and multi-dimensional category. Within the context of the Church, particularly as discussed in this book, communication refers to words and images that the Church transmits to the faithful and to the world to help the people cope with issues brought about by the crisis. This communication helps contextualize these dramatic events in sound theological principles which need to again and again be creatively restated and reaffirmed with every human happening, both big and small, that takes place. Second, communication also refers to pastoral and evangelizing actions carried out by the Church and its members to sustain the life of the Church amid the grave situation of imposed isolation, pastors and members of the flock succumbing to COVID-19, shuttered church doors, and unlit altar candles. Third, communication refers to the models and strategies by the Church and its leaders to employ technological means to promote ecclesial communion, nourish the faith life of the people, and to dialogue with individuals and groups to create a truly synodal Church. Finally, communication also refers to ways that the Church discerns and engages with the signs of the times in order to transform raw experiences into valuable lessons, human suffering into salvific grace, and pandemic isolation and division into greater post-pandemic interculturality, interdependence, and collaboration." (Introduction, page xx-xxi)
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"This article examines the role of language in the constitution of a common identity through its liturgical use at the Eastern Orthodox church of St Andrew’s in Edinburgh, Scotland. Open to individuals who have relocated, the parish has a rather multinational character. It is a place of worship fo
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r populations that consider Christian Orthodox culture part of their long-established collective identity and for recent converts. Based on ethnographic research, archival work and theoretical contextualisation, the article examines the atmospheric materiality of the written text as performed by the readers, the choir and the clergy. This soundscape is an amalgam of different kinds of reading: prose, chanted prose, chanting and antiphonic, depending the part of the Liturgy being read. The language of the book is performative: the choreography and its symbolisms perform the words of the texts and vice versa. Additionally, the use of at least four languages in every service and two Eastern Orthodox chanting styles in combination with European influences expresses in the most tangible way the religious inclusivity that has been carefully cultivated in this parish. Through closer examination of literary transformation processes, I demonstrate the role of liturgical language in the creation of communal space-times that negotiate ideas of home and belonging in a new land." (Abstract)
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"The reality of the Eucharistic celebrations broadcast on television and the Internet is the subject matter of this article. Considering the difficulties and possibilities of understanding liturgical communication by the media, it reflects theologically on the meaning of participation, presence, com
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mensality and the sacramentality of the Eucharist. Avoiding hasty judgments and considering the Church's practice in the digital era, elements to the debate on communication and liturgy in the current context are presented." (Abstract)
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"Durch das Auge der Kamera verändert sich der Gottesdienst. Die Kamera leitet den Blick des Zuschauers und ihre Anwesenheit verändert auch die gottesdienstliche Feier der Gemeinde. Mit durchschnittlich ca. 700.000 Menschen, die am Sonntag von den regelmäßigen katholischen Gottesdiensten im Ferns
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ehen erreicht werden, ist ihre Reichweite beachtlich. Die vorliegende Arbeit fragt zum einen nach der theologischen Grundlegung der Übertragungen. Zum anderen untersucht sie, wie die gottesdienstliche Gestaltung und die Regie dabei mitwirken, dass die Übertragungen auch für die Zuschauer am Bildschirm zu gottesdienstlichen Feiern werden können. Die Geschichte der Gottesdienstübertragungen im Femsehen ist die Geschichte der Diskussion um die Zulässigkeit dieses Sendeformats. Dabei wird das Übertragungskonzept, das aus der bisherigen Praxis erhoben wird, durch die vorliegende Arbeit maßgeblich weiterentwickelt. Ein neues Konzept der Gottesdienstübertragungen wird durch die interdisziplinäre Anlage sowohl auf medienwissenschaftlicher als auch liturgietheologischer Basis erarbeitet. Die Arbeit kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Gottesdienstübertragung sowohl eine eigenständige Gottesdienstform als auch ein eigenständiges Programmformat darstellt. Durch die Analyse der Übertragungspraxis, des Zuschauerprofils und vor allem durch die detaillierte Untersuchung von über 50 Gottesdienstübertragungen wird diese konzeptionelle Grundlegung an der Praxis überprüft und fortgeschrieben." (Klappentext)
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"Die Beiträge dieses Bandes suchen einen interdisziplinären Zugang zum Verhältnis von Fernsehen und Religion. Aus verschiedenen Fachperspektiven setzen sie sich mit der Frage auseinander, ob das Fernsehen Kommunikationsformen und Funktionen der Religion übernommen hat." (Verlagsbeschreibung)