AI & Religion Ep 2: Whose Theology Is Shaping AI?

AI & Religion Ep 2: Whose Theology Is Shaping AI?

Most people who talk about AI and theology have read about AI. Alexander Chow actually studied it — he holds a degree in computer science and spent a decade as a software engineer before becoming a theologian. Last week, he launched the Oxford Handbook of Digital Theology — the most comprehensive academic reference on this field ever assembled. I wanted to know: what does someone who has stood on both sides of that divide actually see? In this conversation, we explore: • What happens when AI changes the code you wrote — and what that means for human creativity • Why Chinese Christians navigate AI and surveillance differently than Western theologians • How Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism offer a radically different anthropology for AI ethics • Why the Pope's encyclical on AI is valuable but too human-centric — missing what Alexander calls "magnifica divinitas" • What theology will look like in 50 years if we keep treating technology as a tool rather than a theological question Alexander Chow is a theologian based at the University of Edinburgh, co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Digital Theology [https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Handbook-Digital-Theology/dp/0192884204/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DOAFWFLQIKD7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FqGwt2DU-zV192ICvMo-cZ4pTomV13ZpFV6NjO928YtmBChEJYwymUIT5eXxtxn0-P5-aIhs3lYk4LYcBCQ_PPuC6F_LqVWL4wkKseTbuOGuEBHfKSBNGcE3TvX3sWFxkSAU4jmb17RuFJYkoNWTkg5K_-7I4tzdhikHPwnaALh4lwj_VMoLRNi9fDO5qmWWKEWQo9Ll1D1RxrkO35j4-sVHmo7w5TK3L2q2zBaQdFs.vwTmoiJmEpnO4OdOUi92CXJYW0_KqQux87RznNqq0Rc&dib_tag=se&keywords=oxford+handbook+of+digital+theology&qid=1782418693&sprefix=oxford+handbook+of+digital+theology%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-1] (Oxford University Press, 2025), and a scholar of Chinese Christianity. 📌 Episode 2 of the AI & Religion series — exploring what faith traditions across the globe bring to the conversation about artificial intelligence.

AI & Religion Ep 1: The Pope Warns Us about AI: Was He Right?

The Pope issued a sweeping warning about artificial intelligence — but what does it actually say, and was he right? In this first episode of the AI & Theology series, I sit down with Dr. Tracy Trothen, professor of ethics at Queen's University, Canada, to unpack the Vatican's intervention, the rise of grief bots, and what AI means for how we make meaning, face death, and define what it means to be human. 🎙️ AI & THEOLOGY — Episode 1 📖 Topics: Pope Francis's AI encyclical, grief bots and digital afterlife, transhumanism, biohacking, Catholic social teaching, marginalized voices in AI governance. Tracy J. Trothen and Randall Reed, Understanding Religion and Artificial Intelligence [https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Religion-Artificial-Intelligence-Randall/dp/1032557265/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3I8G8LXDQHJR7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VU1eK_rA3Y44sgI6nN5uBgOzuEYeFribupHvtldJsIzgd4cXcSOKk1UYcpj6nMKqQ_ZRconPrSvK0fSNr-wwNykKUC6K-D4ArwaxcGocHmTvVQlvb-PfbDyg5WnJwqTjUoGMjD5Y8PFzEgdYyNBLti4BsiUiL78MFUTJAPuUo0GAiq5eQpZDNMe6Qr3aMw-O2q8AkU0aA_ZRC_1Xz9rOR7_-qt1eU1sAQVTK_y9eXfA.qYTJxw6uv1eQCQD3Fb9XGqM5o-SaZhkFSnm32YiCVrc&dib_tag=se&keywords=understanding+Religion+and+Artificial+Intelligence&qid=1781807133&sprefix=understanding+religion+and+artificial+intelligence%2Caps%2C177&sr=8-1]

Faithful Provocations Ep 5: Erotic Justice: Faith, Sex, and Politics

What does it mean to practice erotic justice in a time of political crisis? Christian social ethicist Marvin M. Ellison joins Faithful Provocations to explore the intersection of faith, sexuality, and public life — from his upbringing in the American South wrestling with his family's history in slavery, to his critical work on same-sex marriage activism, to what his congregation in Maine has done to protect immigrants from ICE raids. In this conversation, Marvin reflects on Augustine's theology of hope, what White Christians must reckon with in the MAGA era, and why "erotic justice" — the title of his book — remains an urgent framework for faithful living today. 📚 Erotic Justice [https://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Justice-Marvin-M-Ellison/dp/0664256465/ref=sr_1_1?crid=19R3LTOZ80CY6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BzYz1UUtGDKiUb0B28-L0EkZ4zv-EFzGQLrCWAVatg0MkHjv0LaoMVa6y6oZuW4a8Zhb1yIv-M8nFw_4Fcf2q6nEnaOYxUbCCTQ3RYhLKa5_8QY5L5MDoDs3cS7vBkIgTlHNwH4wOBjndBNf747GEBv410_MrbDNL4eXTho0vdGFL6-Hq1ij5n6-OXdEbaWXxumQPWpBkRxooUe_1adMSV_5CsPeo5h7jrznvP4CGBI.inltkxgmiq8VWnffc2O0XJUKkosViU8Um5pxoSeFxIY&dib_tag=se&keywords=erotic+justice&qid=1781318491&sprefix=erotic+justice%2Caps%2C262&sr=8-1] by Marvin Ellison

When Faith Meets Mars: A Priest-Scientist Speaks

Can you search for life on Mars — and still believe in God?  An Episcopal priest and NASA astrobiologist, Pamela Conrad spent years working on rover missions designed to look for signs of life on Mars. In this conversation with Kwok Pui Lan, she makes the case that faith and science are not enemies — they are two different lenses pointed at the same reality. Topics covered: * Why curiosity is at the heart of both science and faith * What the Mars rover missions revealed about life — and about creation * Why the US-China moon race is a colonial problem, not a scientific one * How to read Genesis without reading it literally — and what a medieval rabbi says about it * How her book A Believer's Journey Through the Stars is structured around sound, light, and time * Why "darkness" and "blackness" are not the same thing — and its implications for race * Why she prefers "we ARE creation" over "creation care" * The Society of Ordained Scientists and its mission in an age of disinformation 📖 A Believer's Journey Through the Stars [https://www.amazon.com/Believers-Journey-Through-Stars-Reflections/dp/1640658858/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3AK16JCEBUKWO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5vzFyNxhrpyXuMDcp0sAY8Bn1kPjdnO_5h28J1wHhyWVXIMeleXyN7kLrYP4R5Hx.cQTH_gTD9QATG-HKAws9ggnxkwoyInWTmCTtkh3RRVo&dib_tag=se&keywords=Pamela+Gales+Conrad&qid=1781038527&sprefix=pamela+gales+conrad%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1] by Pamela G. Conrad

Is India the Next Authoritarian State?

Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan dialogues with Indian ecofeminist theologian Aruna Gnanadason — former director of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation program of the World Council of Churches — to ask the question no one in faith circles wants to answer: Is India sliding toward authoritarianism, and what does the church do about it? From the uncanny parallels between Modi and Trump, to the BJP's manipulation of the women's movement, to what indigenous Indian women can teach the global church about earth care and resistance — this conversation is urgent, grounded, and prophetic. Aruna Gnanadason is the author of Listen to the Women, Listen to the Earth, and a decades-long leader in Asian feminist and ecofeminist theology.