Virtual Communion

Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination

Katherine G. Schmidt

• Publisher: Fortress Academic
• Year: 2020
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978701632
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination provides a theological account of the internet from a Catholic perspective. It engages digital culture by providing a context for media and mediation within the Catholic tradition, specifically focusing on the ecclesiology and sacramentality of the church. Katherine G. Schmidt argues that the Catholic imagination is inherently consonant with the idea of the "virtual," understood as the creative space between presence and absence, bringing the fields of media studies, internet studies, sociology, history, and theology together in order to give a theological account of the social realities of American Catholicism in light of digital culture. Overall, Schmidt argues that the social possibilities of the internet afford the church great opportunity for building a social context that allows the living out of Eucharistic logic learned in properly liturgical moments.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Table
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Theological Concerns
• 2 Ecclesial Perspectives on Media and Communications
• 3 Incarnation, Virtuality, and the Church
• 4 Virtuality and Sacramentality
• 5 The Social Dynamics of Life Online
• 6 The Suburbanization of American Catholic Life
• 7 The Standards of Communion
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author