The myth of online discipleship

Can the church exist in the Internet? A perennial discussion perhaps since at least alt.christnet, though I’d have to check Google Groups. Without good resolution, web sites like Church of Fools already stand as barren cathedral ruins, this time made not of stone, but Shockwave.

The cornerstone of Reformed Christian ecclesiology (theory of the Church) is summarized in Article 19 of the 39 Articles of Religion: the church is to be found wherever “the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered.” Similar summaries can be found in the Westminster Confession and the Augsburg Confession.

Can this be done virtually? I would argue “No.” Intrinsic to Christian theology is the Incarnation, that God the Son entered the world in human flesh. God was not being pleased to sit at a remote terminal and chmod people. Rather, Jesus took human flesh and became a neighbor, close enough to eat with and drink with, close enough to touch the leper and close enough to embrace a child. Close enough and fleshy enough, as he found, to be arrested, beaten and crucified.

The preaching of the Word is an act of orality that bits cannot capture. I’d love to cite an authority like McLuhan on this, but I haven’t got the know-how. The administration of the Sacrament requires matter rather than telepresence. We cannot deny the flesh or deny our matter without endangering our Christianity.

To say that the Church can exist in essence in the Internet requires a massive reworking of Christian theology: the Incarnation, the Sacraments, Ecclesiology and eventually the Scriptures themselves and our salvation (soteriology). I’m sure I’ll cover all of this in my next blog post.

My comments on the link below summarize it enough. Even with sufficient technological advance, we have not only a human need but theological imperative to shut our laptops and meet one another face-to-face. It is then, as John writes, that our joy and our salvation can be made complete.

• Think Christian, “Revisiting An Online Discipleship Discussion“