Theology of Embodied Worship
I've been musing lately on whether we're far enough from COVID rhetoric to develop a robust theology of physical presence for worship. Looking back, everyone made impassioned arguments but I'm not sure anyone was even-keeled enough to make their decisions solely based on the Word and necessary consequence, rather than reactive to the times and the magistrate's decrees.
Is physical presence essential or accidental to Christian worship? If we livestream congregational worship for 6 months, have we been meeting virtually for 6 months or not having church at all for 6 months?
I have my own positions, I took a position during COVID--but I couldn't defend it as an application of a purely doctrinal requirement. And in the midst of that time, rhetoric was already at such a fever pitch that it basically couldn't be discussed, much less defended without reference to the times.
Has anyone done any pure theology work in this space? I re-skimmed my copy of Desiring the Kingdom by JKA Smith, and he doesn't seem to have anticipated the need for a declarative statement of the Bible's theology of presence (he seems to go more from the heart outward/upward). Did any Christian theologian do the work needed to answer these questions prior to the "contamination" of knowing how the pandemic was handled?
Can we derive any position from first principles, or Scripture alone, without reference to technologies, modern historical events, or hypotheticals? My desire is for robust, theological work on two main points:
- Necessity of physical presence in congregational worship
- Interaction of the conclusion from #1 with magisterial decrees or prohibitions