Holy Communion in Contagious Times: Celebrating the Eucharist in the Everyday and Online Worlds
Ebook
Overview
Can the church celebrate the eucharist in “contagious times,” like the coronavirus pandemic, and if so, how? In this book, Richard Burridge investigates a wide range of proposed options, both in the everyday physical world (fasting the eucharist, spiritual communion, solo and concelebrated communions, lay presidency, drive-in and drive-thru eucharists, and extended communion) and in cyberspace (computer services for avatars, broadcast eucharists online, and narrowcast communions using webinar software like Zoom). Along the way, he tackles the whole range of concepts of the church, ordination, and the eucharist. This book is essential reading for anyone desiring an informed and provocative guide to the theology and practice of holy communion in our challenging times.
“No one will finish reading this book without a deeply
enhanced sense of the meaning of the eucharist. Painstaking and
impressively well-documented and researched, it will be an
invaluable resource, stimulating much debate and reflection.”
—Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury
“In this carefully researched and original book of quite
extraordinary scope, the author brings to light the deepest meaning
of the relation of God to a world that includes cyberspace.”
—Paul S. Fiddes, University of Oxford, Baptist
theologian
“Renowned biblical theologian Richard Burridge’s arguments give us
much to think about in this ongoing important debate.”
—Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal
Church
“A visionary eucharistic theology and ecclesiology for the future’s
hybrid physical and virtual expressions of church.”
—Mitzi J. Budde, Virginia Theological Seminary, deacon in
the Evangelical Lutheran Church
“A provocative, interesting, rich, and thoughtful book.
It is well worth the read and furthers the discussion
considerably.”
—C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal bishop of Texas
“Reading Burridge’s material about online eucharists moved my
theological goalposts!”
—Pierre Whalon, former bishop of the convocation of Episcopal
Churches of Europe
“A fascinating study. Something all church leaders need
to wrestle with!”
—Michael F. Bird, Ridley College, Melbourne
“Richard Burridge’s theological depth and willingness to be radical
in his thinking make this book essential reading.”
—David Walker, bishop of Manchester
“Never content to do theology in an ivory tower, renowned
biblical theologian Richard Burridge has forged ahead in a personal
quest for possible ways to celebrate holy communion during the
COVID-19 pandemic and similar health crises. Whether you or I agree
with his conclusions or not, his arguments give us much to think
about in this ongoing important debate for all who follow Jesus of
Nazareth and his way of love in difficult times. I still use his
2008 commentary on John’s Gospel and have little doubt that this
new work likewise will be one that I reread many times in the years
ahead.”
—Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and
author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling
Times
“Richard Burridge brings his prodigious energy, theological and
pastoral passion, and diverse network of colleagues to engage the
vitally important issue of ongoing Christian liturgical tradition
in the internet age. I’m grateful to Professor Burridge for putting
this book into the world at this challenging moment.”
—Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, dean and president, Seminary of the
Southwest
“Richard Burridge asks questions that the church needs to face. His
theological depth and willingness to be radical in his thinking
make this book essential reading for anyone wishing to explore the
rapidly developing and expanding world of virtual church life with
an even partially open mind.”
—David Walker, bishop of Manchester
“The global pandemic raised many questions for the church about how
holy communion might be celebrated when we are unable to meet in
person. With characteristic expertise, Richard Burridge guides us
through these debates with close attention, both to the tradition
of Christian teaching on the eucharist and developments in modern
communication technology. He offers some provocative yet deeply
considered proposals that deserve consideration by all who have
wrestled with these issues.”
—Graham Tomlin, bishop of Kensington and president of St Mellitus
College
“No one will finish reading this book without a deeply enhanced
sense of the meaning of the eucharist. Painstaking and impressively
well-documented and researched, it will be an invaluable resource,
stimulating much debate and reflection.”
—Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury
“The Richard Burridge skill set is to provide
magisterial, detail-orientated studies that explore all the issues
from a full range of perspectives. This extraordinary book is no
exception. With rigor and careful attention to detail, Burridge
sets out a provocative argument while considering all the options.
Read carefully, learn much, and think deeply.”
—Ian S. Markham, dean and president of Virginia Theological
Seminary and professor of theology and ethics
“The pandemic has sharpened questions which Christians have been
asking for some time about the celebration of the eucharist on
digital media. In this lively and forceful book, Richard Burridge
presents his informed perspective on the current state of the
debate in the Church of England, and he offers some striking
proposals for the future.”
—Michael Ipgrave, bishop of Lichfield
“As a fellow ‘zoomicant’ in lockdown’s wilderness, I appreciated
not only the spiritual nourishment but also Richard Burridge’s
thoughtful and detailed exploration, which helped me still be part
of God’s people even when gathered at a distance.”
—Richard Coles, parish priest of Finedon and broadcaster
“The eucharist is the food that makes us hungrier for God. Each
time the bread is broken, God unmasks his fidelity and love.
Without it, as Burridge shows with his usual contagious love of
scholarship and public theology, faith curdles into self-reference
and we forget the call to model community life. Read this as a
vaccine against a diseased Christianity.”
—Mark Oakley, dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and canon
theologian at Wakefield Cathedral
“A fascinating study. Richard Burridge tackles the moral
sacramental question of your COVID-19 era, namely, how do you have
sacramental communion during a pandemic. He canvasses the various
options, weighs the pros and cons, and sets forth his own proposal
for communion in a digital and contagious age. Something all church
leaders need to wrestle with!”
—Michael F. Bird, academic dean and lecturer in New Testament,
Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
“When the pandemic led to lockdowns and the prohibition
of in-person worship services, the Ecclesiology Committee of the
Episcopal Church House of Bishops which I chair took up the
question of online celebrations of the eucharist. In a paper that I
wrote, I was adamant that consecration of elements online is
impossible. I became intrigued, however, by Richard Burridge’s
insistence that the question not be purely theoretical, but needed
a thorough study, including a ‘Zoom communion’ group that I joined.
Though I do not celebrate or communicate, I have come to think
that, under strict guidelines and only during real emergencies, an
online eucharist can be celebrated faithfully. The church’s newest
mission field is cyberspace, and Richard Burridge’s book is a guide
to its geography.”
—Pierre Whalon; until recently bishop of the Convocation of
Episcopal (formerly American) Churches in Europe
“Burridge has put together a provocative, interesting,
rich, and thoughtful book, even if I am not persuaded. It is well
worth the read and furthers the discussion considerably. I believe
we are at our best when we do Anglican theology together and am
grateful for the invitation to the table and conversation.”
—C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal bishop of Texas and author of
Embodied Liturgy: Virtual Reality and Liturgical Theology in
Conversation and Citizen: Faithful Discipleship in a
Partisan World
“Sometimes it takes a crisis, sometimes a new technology, to drive
the church of Christ forwards. In 2020, we had both on a global
scale. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
opportunities of near-universal access to the internet created a
context in which congregations and their leaders had to address
afresh the question of what it means to break bread and share wine
in remembrance of Christ’s death. The dance between pragmatism and
theology lasted eighteen months, with the lead swapping between
these partners. In this book, Richard Burridge traces the
developments in praxis and theory across a range of traditions,
rooted in the deep question of what it means for the people of God
to gather at the table of Christ. As congregations return to their
buildings, and as pastors and priests resume their sacramental
positions, the questions explored in this book have not
disappeared, and Burridge offers some tantalizing challenges about
the nature of gathering in a post-pandemic, internet-enabled
age.”
—Simon Woodman, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London
“This timely book makes a sagacious contribution to the global
debate over whether and how Christians might partake of the
Eucharist in a pandemic. It offers a visionary eucharistic theology
and ecclesiology for the future’s hybrid physical and virtual
expressions of church. After analyzing the eucharistic options that
various parishes have chosen through the pandemic, the author makes
a persuasive case for the validity of an online real-time Eucharist
with participant-provided bread and wine. Burridge argues that
Christ manifests himself in every human sphere, including the
digital, and that therefore worship in the digital sphere is
appropriate when gathering physically as a church is not possible.
This book challenges Christians and churches to be theologically
and liturgically imaginative in order to recognize the generative
power of the Spirit at work, recreating and perpetuating the church
anew in all seasons, places, and circumstances—even a global
pandemic. I am part of the eucharistic community worshipping via
Zoom technology that Burridge has convened. This Zoom group has
become a eucharistic house church, with participants from three
continents. Christ is truly present, as he promised, where two or
three are gathered online.”
—Mitzi J. Budde, deacon of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, head librarian and professor, Virginia Theological
Seminary, Arthur Carl Lichtenberger Chair in Continuing
Education and Theological Research, Alexandria, Virginia,
USA
“Recognizing that the Holy Spirit of God is fruitfully
active among people and communities across the world and across the
churches as they face the implications for Christian worship and
witness of the restrictions of the 2020–21 pandemic, Burridge
offers a theological analysis that is detailed, perceptive,
stretching, and highly readable. A marvelous achievement
that testifies to the liberating energy of God’s grace for a church
which is too often hidebound in a world crying out in its suffering
and need.”
—Gordon Oliver, formerly director of ministry for Rochester
Diocese, and author of Ministry without Madness
“This remarkable book meets the need for Christian thinking to come
to terms urgently with the challenge of the digital revolution. In
this carefully researched and original book of quite extraordinary
scope, the author does not only show a convincing way through the
problems of celebrating the eucharist online: he also brings to
light the deepest meaning of the relation of God to a world that
includes cyberspace.”
—Paul S. Fiddes, FBA, professor of systematic theology, University
of Oxford, principal emeritus and senior research fellow, Regent’s
Park College, University of Oxford
“There are few more qualified to tackle the tangled question of
what communion is and does than the Reverend Canon Professor
Richard Burridge. Holy Communion in Contagious Times brings
to bear his prodigious gifts as a Bible scholar, as a priest, and
as a person considering how the church balances isolation and
spiritual need. This book will challenge and maybe even shift your
thinking about the most sacred acts in our faith.”
—Greg Garrett, professor of English at Baylor University and canon
theologian at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity,
Paris
- Title: Holy Communion in Contagious Times: Celebrating the Eucharist in the Everyday and Online Worlds
- Author: Richard A. Burridge
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725285781, 9781725285767, 9781725285774, 1725285789, 1725285762, 1725285770
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725285781
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T13:32:52Z