ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to consider the two together, that is to say, reflect on digitally mediated forms of ecclesial community in light of both theological convictions and insights from contemporary media theories. It focuses on how internet-based ecclesial communities express, live, enable, or constrain liturgical practices. In order to pursue this line of inquiry, the chapter examines how virtual communities at prayer actually gather, and reflects on the cultural context in which such online gatherings take place. It explores two visual witnesses, both from within liturgical contexts. The first is an altarpiece from fourteenth-century Florence. The second is a set of tapestries hanging in the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California. The chapter then considers some theological resources conducive to understanding digitally mediated communities at prayer. It concludes by attending to two interrelated issues of community formation in digital space, namely the broadening of voices of authority, and the shifts in performances of gender.
