Cyber Cemeteries as a Challenge to Traditional Reformed Thanatological Liturgical Praxis

This study aimed to critically analyze the use of cyber cemeteries and other forms of thanatechnology ("technological resources such as videos, computer-assisted instruction programs and interactive videodiscs that can be used to gain information about topics in thanatology", in a description by Carla Sofka) in a South African context, more specifically within the context of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), and their potential to enrich the current and future liturgical and ritual landscape. The concept of cyber cemeteries is interpreted in a way that includes a wide variety of death, grief and bereavement online; it is not only interpreted as specific websites dedicated to reproducing physical cemeteries in online spaces. The study further aimed to critically analyze existing liturgical praxis regarding rituals and rites concerning death and view these rituals and rites from the perspective that cyber cemeteries and other forms of thanatechnology contribute to our understanding of liturgy. This thesis intended to expand the way liturgy and ritual are understood in cyberspace and attempted to broaden the liturgical imagination regarding the liturgical possibilities in a digital society. On a more specific level, this study contributes to enhancing the cultural relevance of existing Reformed thanatological liturgical praxis, and the role of technology in participants' lives.