Abendmahl: digital

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the previously dormant question about the possibility of digital communion services became an immediate assignment. There have been three primary issues: the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist;the gifted nature of the elements;and the bodily presence of the Eucharist's participants. None of these three problems inhibit participation in digital communion services, so long as one observes a certain amount of synchronicity. In the meantime, participants in the conversation should not exhaust themselves with questions about the theological legitimacy of new technologies. Rather, they should understand the crisis as a challenge to think through previously unacknowledged issues.