Real Presence Amid the Shallows: Eucharist and Friendship in a Digital Age

This article contends that Christ's eucharistic offer of friendship, and the habits of attentiveness such real presence demands, must shape the church's mission in a digital milieu that tends to shallow attention and relationships. It makes this argument in dialogue principally with the th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Briola, Lucas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2023
In: Horizons
Year: 2023, Volume: 50, Issue: 2, Pages: 293-324
IxTheo Classification:KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KDB Roman Catholic Church
NBP Sacramentology; sacraments
ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies
Further subjects:B Carr
B Friendship
B McLuhan
B Pope Francis
B Liturgy
B Lonergan
B Digital technology
B Eucharist
B Real Presence
B Turkle
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Summary:This article contends that Christ's eucharistic offer of friendship, and the habits of attentiveness such real presence demands, must shape the church's mission in a digital milieu that tends to shallow attention and relationships. It makes this argument in dialogue principally with the theology of Bernard Lonergan and the pontificate of Pope Francis, while aided by the cultural commentary of Nicholas Carr, Sherry Turkle, and Marshall McLuhan. First, I consider how Lonergan's focus on human knowing and choosing anticipates the recent turn in the Catholic magisterium under Pope Francis that considers the formative effects of digital communication technologies. Second, I show how Lonergan's account of bias helps explain the shallowing effects of these technologies, for both cognition and community. Third, inspired by Lonergan and Pope Francis, I propose how practices of friendship - informed by Christ's own friendship extended through Eucharistic presence - can foster habits of real presence able to counter the shallows of our digital age.
ISSN:2050-8557
Contains:Enthalten in: Horizons
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/hor.2023.40