Defining Digital Theology: Digital Humanities, Digital Religion and the Particular Work of the CODEC Research Centre and Network

This article seeks to define Digital Theology, first by exploring the development of the CODEC Research Centre at Durham University – perhaps the only centre developed to explore Digital Theology. The aims of the centre and some of its projects are explored leading to a discussion of CODEC’s place within Digital Humanities. The article concludes with a focus on different aspects and definitions of Digital Theology

Defining Digital Theology: Digital Humanities, Digital Religion and the Particular Work of the CODEC Research Centre and Network

This article seeks to define Digital Theology, first by exploring the development of the CODEC Research Centre at Durham University – perhaps the only centre developed to explore Digital Theology. The aims of the centre and some of its projects are explored leading to a discussion of CODEC’s place within Digital Humanities. The article concludes with a focus on different aspects and definitions of Digital Theology

Digital Church and Creative Spaces: Factors Determining the Level of Digital Adaptation during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study’s question concerns which factors increased the likelihood of churches adapting alternative forms of worship and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates data from Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. As such, we explored correlations in the dataset between the wish to adopt alternative forms of worship and the factors that positively contributed to this. The data was analysed using a mixed methods approach. The main findings of the study suggest that the pastors’ motivation to invest in alternative forms of worship in the future was positively influenced by their experience of reaching new groups via online forms of worship (missional incentive), their positive attitude toward digitalisation (attitude), their creativity in working with online productions (creativity), working in a team preparing them (teamwork), the amount of work in the day (workload), and their satisfaction with the outcome (satisfaction). The pandemic has had a catalytic effect on pastors and ministers, unleashing creative forces within churches across the world. // In dieser Studie geht es um die Frage, welche Faktoren die Wahrscheinlichkeit erhöhten, dass die Kirchen während der Corona-Pandemie alternative Gottesdienstformen und -praktiken anwandten. In der Studie werden Daten aus Schweden, der Schweiz und dem Vereinigten Königreich analysiert. Wir untersuchten Korrelationen zwischen dem Wunsch, alternative Gottesdienstformen zu übernehmen, und den Faktoren, die positiv dazu beitrugen. Die Daten wurden mit einem Mixed-Methods-Ansatz ausgewertet. Die Hauptergebnisse der Studie deuten darauf hin, dass die Motivation der Pfarrer*innen, in Zukunft in alternative Gottesdienstformen zu investieren, durch ihre Erfahrungen mit dem Erreichen neuer Gruppen über Online-Gottesdienste (missionarischer Anreiz), ihre positive Einstellung zur Digitalisierung (Einstellung), ihre Kreativität bei der Arbeit mit Online-Produktionen (Kreativität), die Arbeit in einem Team, das diese Produktionen vorbereitet (Teamarbeit), den Arbeitsaufwand am Tag (Arbeitsbelastung) und ihre Zufriedenheit mit dem Ergebnis (Zufriedenheit) positiv beeinflusst wurde. Die Pandemie hatte eine katalytische Wirkung auf Pfarrer*innen und Pastor*innen und setzte in den Kirchen auf der ganzen Welt kreative Kräfte frei