Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Songs of fate, hope and oblivion: Bob Dylan's dystopianism and apocalyticism
- End of the world music: is extreme metal the sound of the apocalypse?
- Babylon's burning: reggae, Rastafari and millenarianism
- Apocalypse at the Millennium
- “The days are numbered”: the romance of death, doom, and deferral in contemporary apocalypse films
- Making things new: regeneration and transcendence in Anime
- Selling faith without selling out: reading the Left Behind novels in the context of popular culture
- “The shadow of the end”: the appeal of apocalypse in literary science fiction
- An end times virtual “Ekklesia”: ritual deliberation in participatory media
- Index
An end times virtual “Ekklesia”: ritual deliberation in participatory media
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Songs of fate, hope and oblivion: Bob Dylan's dystopianism and apocalyticism
- End of the world music: is extreme metal the sound of the apocalypse?
- Babylon's burning: reggae, Rastafari and millenarianism
- Apocalypse at the Millennium
- “The days are numbered”: the romance of death, doom, and deferral in contemporary apocalypse films
- Making things new: regeneration and transcendence in Anime
- Selling faith without selling out: reading the Left Behind novels in the context of popular culture
- “The shadow of the end”: the appeal of apocalypse in literary science fiction
- An end times virtual “Ekklesia”: ritual deliberation in participatory media
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Believing that they were acting in a way much like “first century Christians,” David (a professional psychologist and convert to evangelical Christianity) told me that he and his wife Brenda used the Internet to enact their “ekklesia.” For David, “any time people are together—two or more are gathered in His name: there you are! You're the ekklesia!” Rejecting the need for religious institutions, David described how his online communication replaced the function of a brick-and-mortar church:
There is no real reason you have to show up at a denomination or every Sunday show up at this certain location in the city or else you're a reprobate. And I think it's absolutely viable for the “church”, if you understand what I mean by that: the ekklesia; to meet on the Internet. And I have seen it happen a lot. And that's pretty much where we hold our church.
(Brenda and David, 1999)In the New Testament, the word “church” is translated from the Greek word “ekklesia.” Ekklesia referred to the congregation associated with a particular synagogue. As Christianity evolved, both the Catholic and Eastern Churches emphasized the importance of institutional leadership. Over time, institutional structures began to be synonymous with the communities that they supported. Ultimately, this institutional power was embodied in the physical brick-and-mortar buildings and “church” came to refer to the institutions of Christianity instead of the community they engendered.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The End All Around UsThe Apocalypse and Popular Culture, pp. 198 - 218Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2009