When Zoom worship emerged in Britain during the COVID lockdown of 2020, Christians quickly turned to an art form, a form of theater, to deliver their worship. It was a quest for immanence, the very thing the Reformation dealt with by the elevation of transcendence.
What an intriguing thought: Could John Calvin with his dictum regarding piety have practiced Zoom worship? Served as he was with the principle that the finite cannot contain the infinite, we must admit it looks very unlikely! At least in this Calvin saw eye-to-eye with Erasmus, but what of Luther? He may have been a comfortable Zoom worshiper, with his views that "Religious artworks are neither here nor there" and "We may have them or not as we please."
Little did the church realize that it would be a step back into the past, because "what you permit you promote." The desire to use images was much more sinister than in Medieval times, as these were now images of ourselves! Regardless of the age, the image reigns supreme.
What had caused the demise? Was it bereavement? It could not be bereavement of God; rather, it was the loss of the social, the bereavement of "one another." The need for "one-anothering" had forced the hand of Christians to turn to a practice completely untested. Zoom worship was born--the genie is out, and will never go back in. But in the face of the now-acceptable force of contemporary narcissism, who cares?
Sprache
ISBN-13
978-1-6667-4431-6 (9781666744316)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Andrew Hemingway has been an artist by profession for five decades and served as a teaching member at Trinity Evangelical Church, Yorkshire, England, for thirty-five years. During this time he has also led more than five hundred Bible studies on John Bunyan's Holy War. He describes himself as a man passionate about life, but in four particulars: Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; his ten grandchildren who he loves more than life itself; art, which he believes is God's greatest gift to the world; and (just a little bit!) his football team, Manchester United!
