In this podcast episode Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender talk about the latest news in the tech world, Generative AI. How can this new tech change the way we create and consume content? Introducing the paradox of hope and despair, this episode brings innovative thoughts on this topic. Listen to it now on your favorite platform.
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In this podcast episode Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender continue their conversation about the future from the last episode taking a closer look into how we can imagine realistic futures by using key macrodrivers of change. The conversation also unpacks one of AI Theology’s latest projects. Listen to it on you favorite platform (links bellow).
To understand better this conversation, take a look at this scenario grid.
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January often puts us in a posture of reflection. New beginnings invite us to adjust, ponder and experiment. For example, per my wife’s wise encouragement, I started drinking 2 liters (64 ounces) of water a day. I also joined the local gym and started to work out 3 times a week. These two actions, and assuming I stick with them, will pay dividends for my health for years to come. I could have done it anytime before but for some reason, it took the coming of a season of reflection to jumpstart in the right direction.
Yet, this is not a post about making new year’s resolutions. It is instead an invitation to reflect on how we can show up to the conversation around Generative AI as its imminent disruption becomes more apparent. Stable diffusion, Chat-GPT, Lensa, and LaMDA filled the news with possibilities, fear, and confusion last year. While these technologies were fermenting for years, 2022 was a “coming out” of sorts when the world realized the potential behind generative AI.
Text, image, and sound generators are now available to the masses, opening avenues for multiform novelties. It has not been without controversy, resistance, and caution. A wave of backlash is mounting which is part of the process when a disruptive innovation emerges. Even so, the only certainty is that things won’t be the same.
These developments only make this work all the more important which leads us to the following question: what will it take to be AI theologians in a time of deep disruption? For those struggling to relate with an increasingly out-of-touch term like theology, let me phrase this dilemma in a different manner: how do we engage with these new AI technologies to ensure they build (not destroy) a flourishing future? If the underlying fear is that AI will redefine our humanity, what would it take to steer them toward a future we all want to live in?
For those new to the area, it is important you immerse yourself with accurate and helpful information about AI technologies. Reading two articles that sound an alarm based on an ill-thought-out worst-case scenario is not a replacement for understanding. Social Media and the Internet in general are chock-full of these. They often lead to misinformation, confusion, and in some cases despair.
A better approach is to expose yourself to a broad array of sources. The implications of any new technology are very hard to predict. They hinge on many factors such as economic cycles, evolving social norms, legislation, and speed of adoption. Furthermore, applications like generative AI will have the greatest impact through innovators that can capitalize on it for commercial ventures. Many of these will fail and few will rise to the top. Remember the dotcom revolution promised in the early ’00s? Only a few companies from that time are still in business.
The best you can do is to browse multiple sources on the matter and ponder their diverse informational signals. While this is a daunting task, you don’t have to do this alone. At our AI theology FB group we are constantly curating and discussing new developments on the AI front. This is a good place to start. There are also emails and publications you can sign up for. One that I would recommend which is free is TLDR which offers a daily sampling of top developments in the world of technology. In short, don’t form an opinion based on one alarmist article. Keep an open mind while patiently looking for diverse sources to see what emerges. The future is open.
In a time of fast change, one of the temptations is to disregard wisdom from the past. We get so immersed in our time that and over-estimate the uniqueness of our predicament. This kind of chronological pride will make us deaf to ancient voices of wisdom. While our challenges may feel immense, humanity has been around for a while the commonalities that bind us are more substantial than it is apparent.
For Christians reading this, that will mean returning to the Bible. Yet, that should not be the only source. I would encourage all of us to engage with the rich theological heritages. Among these, I recommend paying special attention to the contemplative tradition which is also known as Christian mysticism. Rigid dogma will not serve us well and unfortunately, Western Christianity is full of it.
I would also encourage expanding our horizons beyond Christian roots. It is time to draw from Eastern sources which include the great Asian faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism and also our Abrahamic brothers and sisters in the Muslim and Jewish faith. Ponder on Rumi’s poems, attend to the stories from the Vedas, and learn to meditate with Buddhist monks. Our global challenge calls for an extensive search for wisdom wherever we can find it.
Another temptation is to follow a knee-jerk reactive way of engagement – to wish that we could turn back the block of time to a period when this technology did not exist. Wedded to nostalgia, this can be fuel for powerful political movements such as the resurgence of right-wing nationalism. They can slow the tide of history, for a while. But ultimately, they are bound to fail.
A better strategy is to stand in the paradox of hope and despair. What does that mean? It is actually a spiritual practice in which you hold together all the potentialities and the risks of these new technologies in tension. You consider them equally, not trying to solve one or another but contemplating reality for what it is.
Can we hold in tension that this innovation will leave many without a job while also opening space for unprecedented art? Can we ponder that it will both democratize creative skills to the masses while also concentrating power and wealth on the few who control the platforms that offer it? Finally, would we consider the tension that while this new technology could empower many to leave poverty and help us address climate change, it will most likely be used for commercial uses that are non-essential?
Weigh different futures being offered with an open mind while also paying attention to the issues that arise as you learn about Generative AI. It goes without saying, that this process can be emotionally draining. That is why I also urge you to attend to self-care in the process. Look for life-giving spiritual practices that will ground you in what is good and beautiful. Stop, listen and rest. While these are timeless practices they are becoming all the more essential to anyone hoping to keep their sanity in a world of dizzying contradictions.
The ultimate question is: what will we do about it? Some are called to engage in the legislative process in order to protect those who will be harmed by these new technologies. Others will engage in the hard work of building new ecosystems that harness the power of these technologies for the flourishing of life. Others will solve intractable business problems leveraging the power of Generative AI.
I want to call out to a task that may be less obvious but is becoming all the more important: activist imagination. That is, we use imagination as a way to encourage others to act. It is meant to be transformative and paradigm-shifting not simply an experience to be consumed but an activity to enliven citizens.
In a situation where the possibilities are legion, anticipation starts with imagination. It is futile to try to predict how these technologies will transform the world. Yet, imagining multiple possibilities can better prepare us to face what will come next. Can we prepare this generation for what’s coming? A place to start is painting vivid pictures of what could be.
Predicting is a form of control but imagining is an invitation to ponder. The prophetic task of our time is to imagine possibilities (both good and bad) and invite our listeners to consider the impact of their actions in the present. Like the Hebrew prophets, we call out for people to repent, change their minds and go a different way. This is not limited to “scorched earth disaster” scenarios but also to pictures of hope that can inspire positive change
Like present-day prophets, we sit in the paradox of hope and despair and invite our audiences to choose life today so we can all have a future tomorrow.
20 years ago the life was very different from today. Can we predict the future by thinking about the past? Join Elias and Maggie in a conversation about how the past can help us envision the future. Listen now to the 6th episode of the AI Theology Podcast.
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Who doesn’t like to listen to podcasts? Listeners are growing by the day in the major platforms (Spotify, Google, Apple Play). But is there QUALITY content?
AI Theology presents to you a new podcast. Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender discuss the intersection between theology and technology in the budding world of AI and other emerging technologies. They bring the best from academy, industry and church together in a lively conversation. Join us and expand your mind with topics like ai ethics, ai for good, guest interviews and much more.
We already have a small intro and our first episode on air, here’s how you can listen to us:
Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender will take you into thought-provoking dialogues. Get to know our hosts and what you, our listener, can expect from this podcast. Click on top of your favorite podcast platform:
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What can an ancient Mesoamerican culture teach the global community in the 21st century? I pondered on these question on my 2.5+ hours bus ride between Cancun and the Chichen Itza’s ruins. With no pretensions or pressure to come up with something, the trip would prove thought-provoking and inspiring. In this blog, I’ll share my findings and a bit about how I ended up there two weeks ago. While being a sucker for exploring new cultures, what I found here went beyond the usual history lesson. With their rich history, delicious cuisine, advanced technology, the Maya surprised me while also challenging me to care for this earth.
Like rivers flowing into oceans, so are the unplanned encounters of the soul in unexpected journeys of discovery. I didn’t set out to the Yucatan peninsula in a quest to learn about the Mayas. Quite the contrary, I was there to rest and celebrate with my wife our 20th anniversary. Away from kids, work, and the many demands of our life at this stage, we yearned for the gentle soothing sounds of the sea.
Even so, places have a way to whisper. They often carry with them stories untold of a past waiting to be discovered. I knew some important monuments and Mayan ruins were nearby and that was enough to pique my interest. In the hotel I learned about my options, only wanting to spend a day I chose the most visited site: Chichen Itza, only a 2.5-3 hour drive from the area we were staying.
My wife, seeking to avoid the crowds and rest up for a day, decided to stay while encouraging me to go. Being one day away from each halfway through our stay sounded like a good compromise from the wisdom of 20 years of marriage. In an interesting twist, when learning I was from Brazil, the hotel agent booked me with a Portuguese-speaking guide. I would join Brazilians and Portuguese natives who were also discovering this Mayan Jewel.
Modernity’s move toward secular science has borne out many achievements. Even so, it also resulted in tremendous loss. For one, people in the West lost their sense of connection with nature and with it also their reverence and respect for it. Nature went from an object of worship to raw material to be exploited. The call to subdue earth meant more than taming nature but ultimately came to justify a massive amount of destruction, pollution, and degradation.
Hence, it is no surprise that westerners like me would have a renewed interest in pre-Modern cultures like the Mayas. They point us to a time when connection and reverence to nature were the order of the day. Rejecting prevalent attitudes that would either see it as a competing religion or dismiss it as primitive superstition, we can now look at Mayans with a humble attitude to listen. What does their story of advancement, exuberance, warfare, and decline teach us today as we live in our age of environmental crisis? It is with this posture, that I approach and reflect on my recent visit to Chichen Itza.
As I rode the bus on the way to Chichen Itza, I was bracing for a real-life history lesson. What I did not expect was a math class early morning on my 3rd day of vacation! Yet, since we had a long drive there, our guide Mauricio Dzul, proceeded to explain the very elaborate yet elegant numbering system the Mayas created. Using only dots, dashes, and a shell-like symbol they can represent any number! I must say that my curious mind was intrigued and made me wonder, shouldn’t we teach this more as a way to diversify teaching mathematics? I might teach it to my kids just for fun.
Why did they develop their number system? While there may be other reasons, The Maya people were astute observers of the skies. They used the movement of the Sun, Moon and Venus to devise the most elaborate calendar system in the world. In this calendar, they counted time that went back thousands of years and needed a way to express these long dates. It was a misunderstanding of this calendar that led to the paranoia with the 2012 date. That was not a good use of Maya technology!
Their historical witness challenges us to look up and consider the stars anew with keen curiosity and reverence. Their astronomy did not only lead to a number system but also greatly influenced their engineering. The Yucatan peninsula is dotted with the remains of buildings oriented towards the movements of the Sun and Moon. They continue to attract thousands to witness intriguing light patterns on Solistice dates. In my visit to Chichen Itza, our guide showed how when clapping from designated place we could hear multiple echoes and even the sound of a bird.
Since my visit, I have become obsessed with all things Maya and their technology. Browsing materials on it and now listening to a course on their history, I learned of the vastness and richness of the field. Mayan studies continue to expand as many ruins are yet to be discovered and properly understood. In this thriving field, one of the most daunting questions has been the cities’ abandonment. By the time the Spanish arrived, many of the great Mayan cities were already ruins covered by the rainforest.
I asked our knowledgeable guide about this. While there was warfare involved, in many cases, the population simply left migrating to other cities or smaller settlements in the forest. He indicated that it was most likely because of weather changes, some of which may have been precipitated by agricultural practices to feed growing populations in the region. Changes in rain patterns disrupted harvest yields leading to political instability and warfare.
If this is indeed the case, then the Maya story through technology also offers a cautionary tale for our time. It re-inforces the message scientists have been warning us about in the last decades on climate change. We must revisit our way of life and how we sustain our growing populations or see our big skyscrapers become ruins overtaken by forest.
Contrary to what it seems, I don’t purposefully look for reasons to blog on my vacation. Yet, they occur from time to time. All it takes is a willingness to enter into the story of a place. Even in a digitally connected world, physical spaces matter. We sit on land that was re-settled by many before us. They, in turn, lived in ecosystems that took millions of years to form. Attending to the story of both the land we inhabit and the people that lived before us is our duty and call for this time.
I cannot see a more theological task than this. If we believe in a timeless God who created the earth, surely we must learn to hear God’s voice in the ground we step on and the cultures that preceded us. If we slow down to listen, we’ll be amazed at the wisdom that surfaces. These are the very whispers of God speaking truth through time and space.
With that posture, I am grateful for the Mayans and their land which I had the privilege to visit. In my time of rest and recreation, I also found new nuggets of wisdom to take along the journey.
Which story is the place you live in telling you? If you haven’t pondered on this question maybe now it is time to start searching.
Can we trust big companies are saying the truth, or are they being hypocrites? We can say that the human race is somehow evolving and leaving behind discriminatory practices. Or at least some are trying to. And this reflects on the market. More and more, companies around the world are being called out on big problems, involving racism, social injustice, gender inequalities, and even false advertising. But how can we know what changes are real and what are fake? From Ford Motors to Facebook, many companies talk the talk but do not walk the walk.
The rise of Black Lives Matter protests is exposing societies’ crooked and oppressive ways, bringing discussions about systemic and structural racism out in the open. It’s a problem that can’t be fixed with empty promises and window dressing. Trying to solve deep problems isn’t easy and is a sort of “all hands on deck” type of situation. But it’s no longer an option for companies around the world to ignore these issues. That’s when the hypocrisy comes in.
Facebook, Amazon, Ford Motor Company, Spotify, Google, are a few examples of big companies that took a stand against racial inequality on their social media. Most of them also donated money to help the cause. They publicly acknowledged that a change has to be made. It is a start. But it means nothing if this change doesn’t happen inside the company itself.
Today I intend to expose a little bit about Facebook and Amazon’s diversity policies and actions. You can make your own conclusions.
Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his personal Facebook page: “To help in this fight, I know Facebook needs to do more to support equality and safety.”
In Facebook’s business page, it claims some actions the company is making to fight inequalities. But it mostly revolves around funding. Of course money is important, but changes regarding the companies structure are ignored. They also promised to build a more inclusive workforce by 2023. They aim for 50% of the workforce to be from underrepresented communities. Also working to double the number of Black and Latino employees in the same timeframe.
But in reality, in the most recent FB Diversity Report, White people take up 41% of all roles, Followed by Asians with 44%, Hispanics with 6.3%, Black people with 3.9% and Native Americans with 0.4%. An even though it may seem that Asians are taking benefit in this current situation, White people take 63% of leadership roles in Facebook, reducing only 10% since 2014. Well, can you see the difference between the promises and ACTUAL reality?
Another problem FB employees talk about is leadership opportunities. Even though the company started hiring more people of color, it still doesn’t give them the opportunity to grow and occupy more important roles. Former Facebook employees filled a complaint with with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission trying to bring justice for the community. Read more about this case here.
Amazon is also investing in this type of propaganda creating a “Diversity and Inclusion” page on their website. They also made some tweets talking about police abuse and the brutal treatment black Americans are forced to live with. What Amazon didn’t expect, is that it would backfire.
Amazon fabricated and sold technology that supports police abuse towards the Black population. In a 2018 study of Amazon’s Rekognition technology, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found people of color were falsely matched at a high rate. Matt Cagle, an attorney for the ACLU of Northern California, called Amazon’s support for racial justice “utterly hypocritical.” Only in June of 2020, Amazon halted selling this technology to the police for one year. And in May of 2021, they extended the pause until further notice.
The ACLU admits that Amazon stopped selling this technology, is a start. But the US government has to “end its use by law enforcement entirely, regardless which company is selling it.” In previous posts, AI Theology talked about bias on facial recognition and algorithmic injustice.
Another problem Amazon faces is in their workforce. At first sight, white people occupy only 32% of their entire workforce. But it means nothing since the best paid jobs belong to them. Corporate employees are composed of: 47% White, 34% Asian, 7% Black, 7% Latinos, 3% Multiracial, and 0.5% Native Americans. The numbers continue reducing drastically when you look at senior leaders that are composed of: 70% White, 20% Asian, 3,8% Black, 3,9% Latinos, 1.4% Multiracial and 0.2% Native Americans. You can find this data in this link.
What these numbers show us is that minorities are under represented in Amazon’s leadership ranks . Especially in the best paid and more influential roles. We need to be alert when big companies say their roles are equally distributed. Sometimes the hypocrisy is there. The roles may be equal, but the pay isn’t.
So if the companies aren’t practicing what they preach, how can we change that?
Numbers show that public pressure can spark change. We should learn not to only applaud well built statements but demand concrete actions, exposing hypocrisy. We need to call on large companies to address the structural racism that denies opportunities from capable and innovative people of color.
Consultant Monica Hawkins believes that executives struggle to raise diversity in senior management mostly because they don’t understand minorities. She believes that leaders need to expand their social and business circles, referrals are a key source of important hires as she mentioned in Reuters.
Another take that companies could consider taking is, instead of only making generic affirmations, they could put out campaigns recognizing their own flaws and challenges and what they are doing to change that reality. This type of action can not only improve the company’s rating but also press other companies to change as well.
It’s also important that companies keep showing their workforce diversity numbers publicly. That way, we can keep track of changes and see whether they are actually working to improve from the inside.
In other words, does the company talk openly about inequalities? That’s nice. Does it make donations to help social justice organizations? Great. But it’s not enough, not anymore. Inequalities don’t exist just because of financial problems. For companies to thrive and continue alive in the future, they need to start creating an effective plan on how to change their own reality.
This blog discusses how the post-secular can be a fitting stage for the promising dialogue between religion, science and technology.
Last Friday I “zoomed into” a stimulating academic dialogue entitled “Theology, Technology and the Post-Secular.” In it, a world-class team of scholars explored how the intersection of theology, science, and technology has evolved in the last 50 years and where it is going in the future. In this blog, I’ll provide a short overview of the conversation while also offering reflections on how the discussion enriches our dialogue in the AI theology community.
If the post-secular is our reality, it is time we learn how to build bridges there.
The talk started with Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson asking Dr. Burdett to provide a short overview of the burgeoning field of religion and science. In the United States, the establishing of the Zygon journal of religion and science inaugurated the dialogue in 1966. In essence, the challenge was to find a place where these two can interact. Science tends to bracket the question of metaphysics (why things are the way they are) while religion lives in that space. This can often lead to misunderstanding and members of each side talking past each other.
Rejecting the notion of incompatibility, Dr. Burdett prefers to define the relationship as complex. For example, on the one hand, theology paved the way for scientific inquiry by first positing a belief in an orderly world. On the other hand, Christian Geocentrism clashed directly with Galileo’s accurate Heliocentric view. Therefore, the theologian believes in forging integrative models where conflict is not glossed over but carefully sorted out through respectful dialogue.
According to Dr. Burdett, the field is currently undergoing a shift from natural to human sciences. While the conversation started in topics like the implications Big Bang and Evolution, the focus now is on Neuroscience, questions of personhood and cognitive science of religion. The field has zoomed in from the macro view of cosmology to the micro view of anthropology.
Furthermore, the field is shying away from theoretical discussions opting instead to work on concrete questions. This new focus highlights where science and religion meet in the social-political stage. For example, how does religion and science interact when someone is considering in vitro fertilization? How do religion and science meet in people’s decision to take the vaccine? How does one comprehend the motivation of climate change deniers? These are just a few questions fueling research in this nascent field.
In the next segment, Dr. Gaymon Bennett asked Dr. Burdett to speak about the role of the theologian in a technology-saturated world. How can a theologian tell a compelling story in the public square to those who do not align with his religious beliefs? Do religious perspectives still have a place in a secular world?
In his answer, Dr. Burdett pointed to Vatican II’s formula of Ressourcement and Agiornamiento. The first word has to do with a return to the sources, namely, the traditions and writings of the faith. It means examining carefully what we received through tradition and practices from past generations. The second points to updating that knowledge to the current context. How can these sources speak fresh insight into new evolving questions? The dual movement of reaching for the past while engaging with the present becomes a vital framework on how to do public theology in our times.
To illustrate the point, Dr. Burdett shared a personal anecdote about his journey to scholarship. Growing up in Northern California in the 1990s, he asked “what are the main driving forces shaping culture?” To him, it was clear that the rise of PCs, the Internet, and smartphones would categorically transform society. What would theology have to say about that? He wanted to know it from a technical perspective so he could see it from the inside. This is what moved him to focus his studies on the intersection of theology and technology after a stint in the industry.
Closer to the end, the conversation shifted towards grappling with the term “post-secular.” For decades, western society divided the world between the secular and the religious, with little intersection between the two. Science and technology have in effect been the major driving forces of secularism. Yet, we now find Silicon Valley, arguably the global center of this marriage, teeming with religious aspirations.
Even so, Dr. Burdett suggested that we still live in a God-haunted world. The removal of religion from public life left a jarring vacuum yet to be replaced. Along with religion was also any notion of the supernatural, all sacrificed in the altar of Modernity. Victorian poet Matthew Arnold expresses this sentiment well in the following verses from Dover Beach:
The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.
This vacuum generated a thirst for new avenues of meaning. This in turn dethroned science as the sole arbiter of truth as it proved inadequate to fill humanity’s soul. The post-secular dashes the illusion that science and technology are sufficient to explain the world and therefore cannot be elevated above other views. Instead, it is a space where religious, mystical, and secular (scientific and technological) views are on the same footing again. The task, therefore, is to bring all these disparate perspectives into respectful dialogue while recognizing their common goals.
Here I offer a few reflections. The first one relates to an important clarification. Throughout the dialogue, the unspoken assumption was that the relationship between religion and science was equivalent to that of religion and technology. However, it is worth noting that while science and technology are deeply intertwined today, that was not always the case. Hence, I would love to see an interdisciplinary branch that focuses on questions of religion and technology independent of science.
It was also illuminating to see scholars name a phenomenon we have been experiencing for a while now. While I have not heard of the term before, its reality resonates well. Nowhere else is this more true than in the cyber global space of social media. Given the pervasive nature of these platforms, this reality is also spilling over to other spheres of human connection. University, churches, companies, and non-profits are also becoming post-secular spaces. This is a fascinating, harrowing, and alarming development all at once.
Finally, I would add that it is not just about connecting with ultimate meaning but also about a return to nature. Whether it is the climate crisis or the blatant confession of how disconnected we are from creation, the post-secular is about digging down to our roots.
Maybe the sea of faith is not just calling us to ultimate meaning but also to encounter the oceans again.
Is technology empowering or hindering human flourishing?
This week, I found a promising illustration of empowerment. While driving back from South Carolina, I listened to an episode from Technopolis podcast which explores how technology is altering urban landscapes. Just like in a previous post, the podcast did not disappoint. In this episode, they talk to Palak Shah from the National Domestic Worker Alliance digital lab. The advocacy group seeks innovative ways to empower 2.5 million nannies, house cleaners, and care workers in the United States. Because of its highly distributed workforce (most domestic workers work for one or a few households making it difficult to organize in a way that auto workers could), they quickly saw that technology was the best way to reach and engage the workers they trying to reach.
The lab developed two main products: the Alia platform and a La Alianza chatbot. The platform aggregates small contributions from clients to offer benefits for the workers. One of the biggest challenges with domestic workers is that they have no safety net. Most only get paid when they work and do not have health insurance. By pooling workers and getting an additional contribution from clients with little overhead, the platform is able to give the workers some of these benefits. The chatbot offers news and resources to over 200K domestic worker subscribers.
When the pandemic hit, the lab team with some help from Google was able to fully pivot in order to address new emerging problems. The Alia platform became a cash-transfer tool to help workers that were not getting any income. Note that most of them did not receive unemployment or the stimulus checks coming from the government. Furthermore, the chatbot surveyed domestic workers to better understand the impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods so they could adequately respond to their needs.
The NDWA lab story illustrates well the power of harnessing technology for human flourishing.
As a technology worker myself, I wonder how my work is expanding or hindering human flourishing. Some of us may not be doing work that is directly aligned with a noble cause. Yet, there are many ways in which we can take small steps re-direct technology towards a more human future.
Last week, in a history-making move, a group of Google employees formed the first union in a major technology company. Before that, tech employees have played crucial roles as whistleblowers for abuses and excesses from their companies. Beyond that, numerous tech workers have contributed their valuable skills for non-profit efforts in what is often known as the “tech for good” movement. These efforts range from hackathons to long-term projects organized by foundations embedded within large multinational companies.
These are just a few examples of how technology workers are taking steps to keep large corporations accountable and contribute to their communities. There are many other ways in which one can work towards human flourishing.
In previous blogs, I discussed compelling traits of an emerging Christianity and illustrated how these traits were showing up in the global church through an example in Brazil. In this blog, I describe and engage with key ideas from Philis Tickle’s book, The Great Emergence. One cannot speak of emerging Christianity without engaging with this seminal work. The Great Emergence, published in 2008, lays an illuminating historical framework to what we now are calling emerging Christianity.
Why is this book so influential on this topic? We like stories that connect the dots and show how the past correlates to the present, providing directions of where the future may go. Tickle does that well by convincingly showing how Christianity in North America is experiencing nothing short of a reformation. Furthermore, through compelling images and well-researched trends, the book gifted us with language to describe the ongoing dialogue over the essence of the Christian faith in North American soil. In short, It helps clarify this tumultuous time we are living in.
Tickle argues that every 500 years, the Christian church goes through a process of renewal. She describes it as a “rummage sales” where the community scans the attic to get rid of items no longer needed. In my neck of the woods, this is often called a “garage sale.” The idea is that the institution goes through a process of reevaluating its beliefs, doctrines and practices. For example, in the last “rummage sales” Martin Luther and others questioned the validity of selling indulgences. Hence, this practice was one of these items “sold,” giving way to new ideas and practices for relating with the divine.
Furthermore, by placing our historical moment alongside these great shifts in he church, she is also arguing that the process has been ongoing for at last 200 years. That is, considering a larger historical context, she identifies important trends that lead us to our current predicament. It is not like all of a sudden a group of Christians decided to complain about the church’s shortcomings. Instead, she sees the process as part of an enduring tradition of renewal in the church.
For example, one of the first blows to the authority of Scripture was the American Civil War over the issue of slavery. When Christians were willing to take arms against each other over an issue that the Bible was ambiguous on, that eroded the overall trust in its authority. This painful historical experience invited questions many dared not ask before.
She also points to the AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) 12-steps program as a marker for the shifting from religion to spirituality. By allowing its adherents to pray to a “higher power of their own choosing,” AA introduced language for a generic faith untethered from religious doctrine. One no longer needed to belief in a God but only acknowledge the existence of a larger entity outside one-self. This further deepened the democratization of belief in the American religious market. The group essentially de-coupled the spiritual parts of Christianity from its religious roots.
Through multiple examples, The Great Emergence describes a process in which Americans exchanged traditional Christian beliefs and practices for new alternatives. In her view, the Pre-modern framework of the biblical faith was ill-equipped to answer questions arising from a fast modernizing world. As this inadequacy amplified through technological and scientific advances, Americans looked to find meaning from other sources.
To me, the most compelling portion of The Great Emergence is where she speaks of a swirling center. She uses it as a metaphor to explain how this emerging Christianity came about in the American religious context. Let me set up the metaphor first to better explain how it works. Tickle divides the many Christian denominations into a quadrilateral of four groups: Liturgicals, Social Justice Christians, Renewalists and Conservatives.
For those unfamiliar with these terms, let me describe what they mean. Liturgicals are Mainline Protestants (Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists) and Catholics whose churches emphasize formal worship with communion every week, recited prayers and hymnbooks. Social Justice Christians, often found in mainline churches, tend to be politically progressive emphasizing service and activism over religious rituals.
Renewalists are the fastest growing segment of the global church often associated with the Pentecostal movement. They tend to emphasize experience (whether through prayer, music and the belief in miracles) over doctrine and rituals. Conservatives is the dominant group within the Evangelical fold who emphasize evangelism and often align with right-wing political positions.
Proceeding further, she proposes a forming center where communities borrow from other quadrants in order to transform their own practices as shown in the picture below:
That is where you have evangelical (Conservative) churches getting into social justice issues; Liturgicals holding healing services (inspired by Renewalists); Conservative Evangelicals looking for meaning in the spiritual disciplines (inspired by Liturgicals); Renewalists aligning themselves closely with right-wing political positions (inspired by Conservatives). These are just a few examples that illustrate this swirling center where communities interact with the different quadrants. They do that in order to fill the gaps that their quadrants’ dominant tradition left behind.
The swirling center is prevalent in non-denominational congregations that, by default, draw people that grew up in different quadrants. As Renewalists, Conservatives, Liturgicals and Social Justice Christians join informal networks and alliances, they naturally learn from each other building new combinations of practices. The result is an overall blending of traditions which often characterizes the emerging church.
Indisputably, Christianity is undergoing profound change in the North American continent. However, the overwhelming sentiment towards these developments among the faithful is one of grief over what is being lost. Phylis Tickle’s argument that we are experiencing reformation instills hope. What is happening is not simply decay but death before resurrection. The rummage sales is here to throw out unnecessary artifacts from tradition so Christians can experience God through new pathways. The turmoil is not just about deconstruction but a first step in reconstruction.
Furthermore, Tickle also suggests that this reformation is bringing Christians together. The swirling center is facilitating a cross pollination never seen before in history. The sectarianism inherited from the Reformation 500 years ago is being corrected. Innovation is not coming from any particular corner of the Christian household but in the center where they all meet. Hence, she suggests that underneath all this turmoil lies the hand of a transformative God longing to bring his children together.
