Transversal modes of being a missional church in the digital context of Covid-19
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21493501 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Buhle Mpofu (0000-0002-6833-0810, University of Pretoria, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0259-9422 • E-ISSN: 2072-8050 |
| Publisher | AOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.4102/hts.v77i4.6341 |
| OpenAlex | W3134811925 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 7 |
The disruptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the year 2020 reshaped all aspects of life, including religious practices and rituals. As more religious activities shifted to digital space during the lockdown periods, there was a growing need to examine the link between religion and digital media. Using the model of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA), this article draws on the notion of transversal rationality and concepts of rationality, cognitive, evaluative and pragmatic to posit that COVID-19 has configured traditional missional and liturgical spaces in ways that locate the agency of the marginalised at the centre. The article highlights how COVID-19 configured Christian mission as it disrupted power dynamics through religious digital spaces, which emerged as a new way of reimaging a missional church. These new digital spaces mediate between interaction and ‘telepresence’, embodied in the representations of the sacred available through online religious systems in practices where users are no longer ordinary believers – but religious participants who have power and freedom to choose. Although this is not a new phenomenon, the article concludes that such spaces created by COVID-19 shifts in power dynamics present opportunities for ordinary members to reinvent new meanings on what it means to be present or absent, to name, narrate and reinterpret the divine and forge new meanings towards participating in the mission of God. Contribution: Although this is not a new phenomenon, this article represents a systematic and practical reflection within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generate an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse
Aesthetics · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Media studies · Phenomenon · Rationality · Social science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Christian Theology and Mission · History · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy
Researching Religion and the Covid-19 Pandemic in Africa
Sanitation, vaccination, and sanctification
Exploring the impact of Covid-19 on church ministries in Africa
Rethinking the Eucharist in the aftermath of Covid-19 disruptions
Theology, philosophy of biology and virology
Rebuilding the community and the church post-Covid-19
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |