Theology and Technology, Volume 1: Essays in Christian Analysis

by Carl Mitcham (Editor), Jim Grote (Editor), Levi Checketts (Editor)

Overview

Originally published nearly forty years ago as a spiritual successor to Carl Mitcham and Robert Mackey's Philosophy and Technology, the essays collected in the two volumes of Theology and Technology span an array of theological attitudes and perspectives providing sufficient material for careful reflection and engagement. The first volume offers five general attitudes toward technology based off of H. Richard Niebuhr's five ideal types in Christ and Culture. The second volume includes biblical, historical, and modern theological engagements with the place of technology in the Christian life. This ecumenical collection ranges from authors who enthusiastically support technological development to those cynical of technique and engages the Christian tradition from the church fathers to recent theologians like Bernard Lonergan and Jacques Ellul. Taken together, these essays, some reproductions of earlier work and others original for this project, provide any student of theology a fitting entree into considering the place of technology in the realm of the sacred.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666790696
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	07/21/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	174
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Carl Mitcham is international professor of philosophy of technology at Renmin University in Beijing, China, and professor emeritus of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science at Colorado School of Mines. He is the author of numerous books on philosophy and technology, including Steps toward a Philosophy of Engineering.

Jim Grote (d. 2013) was development officer for Boys’ Haven and taught business ethics and philosophy in the Louisville, Kentucky, region. He is the author of Medieval Literacy and, with John McGeeney, Clever as Serpents: Business Ethics and Office Politics.

Levi Checketts is assistant professor of religion and philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is currently working on a book on AI epistemology and the option for the poor.

Carl Mitcham is international professor of philosophy of technology at Renmin University in Beijing, China, and professor emeritus of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science at Colorado School of Mines. He is the author of numerous books on philosophy and technology, including Steps toward a Philosophy of Engineering.

Jim Grote (d. 2013) was development officer for Boys’ Haven and taught business ethics and philosophy in the Louisville, Kentucky, region. He is the author of Medieval Literacy and, with John McGeeney, Clever as Serpents: Business Ethics and Office Politics.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The church talks to the church through the same communications technology that envelopes the planet with an uninterrupted digisphere. Can faith understand itself as faith without corruption by digitized non-faith or even anti-faith? Theology and Technology critically analyzes Christian opposition, tolerance, and even reliance on the technological imperative.”

—Ted Peters, coeditor, Theology and Science



“Nearly forty years ago, Mitcham and Grote wrote a book far ahead of its time. Now Theology and Technology’s time has come. This revised two-volume set brings new life to this classic with original and new essays that are ever-more relevant to our world.”

—Brian Green, Santa Clara University



“This is a valuable anthology of essays by prominent theological critics of technology written just before the explosion of the internet, social media, and ubiquitous computing. Reading theologians arguing over whether religion ought to embrace or resist modern industrial technology and the lifestyle it affords can only enrich contemporary theological reflection in the new digital age over how to navigate their currently inevitable symbiotic interdependence.”

—Timothy Clancy, SJ, Gonzaga University



“The reappearance of this Theology and Technology anthology is a most welcome event for theologians and technologists alike. Carl Mitcham and Jim Grote’s original 1984 collection of classic essays is here reintroduced by Levi Checketts. Can theology bring a deeper understanding of technology? Can it bring truth and hope to a closed-in technological system and culture? Or are we locked into a purely secular, naturalistic universe? That is the big question. Here are some valuable foundational essays.”

—David W. Gill, president, International Jacques Ellul Society



“Our lives today are inescapably shaped by technology, from our cell phones to our medical decisions. This volume presents a variety of theological voices, both ancient and modern, to help us reflect on our identity, the ethics of our choices, and our religious commitments in a technologically saturated society.”

—Noreen Herzfeld, St. John’s University

Editorial Reviews

The church talks to the church through the same communications technology that envelopes the planet with an uninterrupted digisphere. Can faith understand itself as faith without corruption by digitized non-faith or even anti-faith? Theology and Technology critically analyzes Christian opposition, tolerance, and even reliance on the technological imperative.”

—Ted Peters, coeditor, Theology and Science



“Nearly forty years ago, Mitcham and Grote wrote a book far ahead of its time. Now Theology and Technology’s time has come. This revised two-volume set brings new life to this classic with original and new essays that are ever-more relevant to our world.”

—Brian Green, Santa Clara University



“This is a valuable anthology of essays by prominent theological critics of technology written just before the explosion of the internet, social media, and ubiquitous computing. Reading theologians arguing over whether religion ought to embrace or resist modern industrial technology and the lifestyle it affords can only enrich contemporary theological reflection in the new digital age over how to navigate their currently inevitable symbiotic interdependence.”

—Timothy Clancy, SJ, Gonzaga University



“The reappearance of this Theology and Technology anthology is a most welcome event for theologians and technologists alike. Carl Mitcham and Jim Grote’s original 1984 collection of classic essays is here reintroduced by Levi Checketts. Can theology bring a deeper understanding of technology? Can it bring truth and hope to a closed-in technological system and culture? Or are we locked into a purely secular, naturalistic universe? That is the big question. Here are some valuable foundational essays.”

—David W. Gill, president, International Jacques Ellul Society



“Our lives today are inescapably shaped by technology, from our cell phones to our medical decisions. This volume presents a variety of theological voices, both ancient and modern, to help us reflect on our identity, the ethics of our choices, and our religious commitments in a technologically saturated society.”

—Noreen Herzfeld, St. John’s University

From the Publisher