Technology and the Christian life

                         

Let me be honest. This is not really a book review. It’s a confession.

It wasn’t until I’d read my 20th magazine article on the frustrations of our technological age (especially malfeasance and ruthless scamming during a pandemic) that I turned to my friends at Crossway for spiritual rescue.

They offered instant relief: God, Technology, and the Christian Life (copyright 2022) by a seasoned Christian writer, Tony Reinke.

The magazines mentioned above included TIME, The Atlantic, The Christian Century, and The Christian Science Journal; and Reinke’s book was quick to point out that in discussions about powerful technologists in the world today, Christians sometimes feel that these men and women fall outside God’s governance.

But they don’t lose this connection, says Reinke, who points to Isaiah 54:16–17 (“No weapon formed against you shall prosper’’) and suggests—amidst wide-ranging Scriptural references—that reckoning with God’s power over big tech is essential for many Christians who must resolve this obstacle before they can see and worship God for the tens of thousands of innovations they use every day. 

I especially welcomed the dedication in the front of the book: “To every Christian living inside demanding and expensive tech centers, unselfishly building churches, and influencing the world’s most powerful industries for good.”

Also,  I welcomed the chapter headings in question form, three of which had crossed my mind well before I reached them:

 What Is God’s Relationship to Technology?

 What Can Technology Never Accomplish?

 And, How Should We Use Technology Today?

Reinke takes such questions firmly and clearly in his stride.

It was no surprise to me that this publication started as a ten-page introduction to his earlier book 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.

Before he could address specific patterns of smartphone use and social media habits, he had to briefly catalogue his own convictions about human innovation. He lectured on this topic, and enjoyed helpful insight from pastors and other believers working inside the tech industry.

In due course, he explains, he benefited from further engagement with friends, editors, tech experts, and theological brains who invested their time and talents in the project that is now engaging the minds of so many people—including me!

Quite clearly, says Reinke. It’s a good time for Christians to think about God’s relation to technology. We are entering a new technological revolution that’s impossible to predict.

We have to decide which technologies are truly helpful, and how we can walk by faith in the age ahead. Technology is now a household term for all the tools we wield. We innovate through skills. We establish new techniques. Technology is essential to who we are, in every era—from the age of the semiautomatic rifle to the age of the slingshot. 

Our technologies may be primitive or advanced; a distinction that reminds Reinke of the story of David and Goliath, two technologists who clashed in 1 Samuel 17. 

In this mix, Reinke defines himself as a Bible-believing creationist, reformed in his theology, and trusting in God’s providential orchestration over all things.

He sees himself as a city dweller concerned with the selfish motives at work in Silicon Valley, yet he says he is also a tech optimist, eager to see and experience the possibilities that lie ahead.

I suspect that many readers will join him—and me!— in exploring these possibilities.