Covid-19, virtual church services and a new temporary geography of home

John Bryson, Lauren Andres, Andrew Davies

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures implemented by the United Kingdom government from 23 March 2020 led to unprecedented adaptations from individuals and communities including places of worship, their clergy and congregations. This paper through a multi-disciplinary dialogue between human geography and theology explores the interrelations between place, space and the spiritual. It identifies the bricolage mechanisms that were developed rapidly by churches to shift towards providing virtual church services. This was an uncommon practice by Christian denominations in the UK. COVID-19 changed the rules requiring new practices to emerge resulting in a new form of infrasecular space to emerge. Such rapid transformations through the provision of online services and virtual embeddedness blurred the lines between sacred and secular spaces. During virtual services, the minister’s home is temporally linked to the homes of congregants forming an intersacred space. Homes and spaces within homes are transformed into temporary sacred spaces.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)360-372
Number of pages13
JournalTijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie
Volume111
Issue number3
Early online date22 Jun 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jul 2020

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • churches
  • geography of religion
  • infrasecular space
  • intersacred space
  • virtual services

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Economics and Econometrics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Covid-19, virtual church services and a new temporary geography of home'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this