When Wired magazine started, they did the weirdest thing a tech magazine could do—they picked a patron saint. Was Marshall McLuhan a digital prophet?Chris interviews Nick Ripatrazone, author of Digital Communion: Marshall McLuhan's Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age (2022). Nick is the Culture Editor for Image and a Contributing Editor for the Catholic Herald.Find out why McLuhan, in his mid-20s, left his nominal Baptist upbringing for a robust Catholic faith. Plus, are smartphones the new stained glass window? In the book, Ripatrazone writes, "For McLuhan, mass media was a form of Mass. When we communicate electronically, not only do we send information; we send ourselves." He unpacks this idea more fully in this episode. Afterward, Adam and Chris discuss how digital media provides a kind of "secular" communion, and whether McLuhan's uniquely Christian metaphor ultimately breaks down.Finally, find out whether Nick thinks the digital age requires us to reimagine the sacraments in a virtual world.LINKSNick’s book is Digital Communion: Marshall McLuhan’s Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age.Marshall McLuhan’s books include Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, The Medium is the Massage, and The Gutenberg Galaxy.Chris mentions the posthumously published, The Medium and the Light, as well as Douglas Coupland’s biography, Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!TALK BACKFollow Device & Virtue on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.Follow Chris and Adam on Twitter.Support Device & Virtue. Learn how.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices