Experts in self-isolation? Monastic outreach during lockdown

Abstract

This paper draws on digital ethnography to examine the experience of a Catholic English Benedictine monastery in the context of restrictions on religious gatherings during the global COVID-19 pandemic. As the monks expand their digital presence and social media involvement, it is their experience of social withdrawal and apparent expertise in self-isolation that provides the grounding for their public engagement. While Max Weber depicts the monk as world-transcending ‘virtuoso’, in a time of lockdown this separation from the world provides a point of connection with the experience of wider society.