Attitude toward Virtual Communion in Relation to Church Tradition during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom

Attitude toward virtual communion was assessed among 3,300 Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Free Church clergy and laity during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK in 2021. A six-item unidimensional scale (Scale of Attitude Toward Virtual Communion, SATVC) assessed attitude related to receiving communion d...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of empirical theology
Main Author: Village, Andrew (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Brill 2022
In: Journal of empirical theology
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Great Britain / Lord's supper / Digitalization / COVID-19 (Disease) / Pandemic
RelBib Classification:KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBF British Isles
KDJ Ecumenism
NBP Sacramentology; sacraments
ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies
Further subjects:B Church
B Pandemic
B online ritual
B Eucharist
B Virtual worship
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Attitude toward virtual communion was assessed among 3,300 Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Free Church clergy and laity during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK in 2021. A six-item unidimensional scale (Scale of Attitude Toward Virtual Communion, SATVC) assessed attitude related to receiving communion during online services, the necessity of priests for consecration and lay presidency of communion at home. Church tradition predicted attitude in ways that were in line with historical understandings of the Eucharist and ecclesial debates about the necessity of priests to preside over ritual. Within traditions, other factors operated in different ways, producing a complex web of interactions. Older people were more positive about virtual communion than younger ones, but mainly in Catholic traditions. Clergy were more negative in most traditions except Free Church. Having a generally conservative doctrinal stance drove Catholic and Reformed traditions in opposite directions. Liturgical stance predicted SATVC independently of doctrinal stance, and more traditional stance tended to lead to more uniformity, rather than divergence, between traditions.
ISSN:1570-9256
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of empirical theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15709256-20221430