Creativity has in theological traditions been understood as a divine attribute, an attribute that extends to humans who in some ways mirror God. This divinely originated impetus to create is manifested in a range of human activities to which most technology is integral. From language to media technologies, the arts, buildings, and machines, human creativity is intrinsically tied up with technology. Technological artefacts are the outcome of human creativity which in the hands of users fuels further processes of creativity leading to change and transformation. However, creativity is a divine gift which needs to be handled with care. It raises questions about the relationship between technological creation and natural creation, and how each impacts the other. In many religious traditions, human making mimics or reflects divine making: it is marked by beauty and order of creation, but also unintended outcomes including suffering and violence. In the hands of both gods and humans, it gives life and brings death.
Both the contextuality of technology and the contextuality of theology point to the contextuality of digital theology: the way that digital theologians interpret digital transformation, which problems they claim to be important and which developments they ignore, the outset of their research—all these topics seem to be highly interrelated with the cultural, social, economic, religious, ecclesial, geographic and institutional context they live and work in.
The reception of contextual theologies, of postcolonial studies and of liberation theologies in the discourses of digital theology evidences its own inevitable contextuality and the significance thereof. It raises several questions for digital theology. In what ways should this contextuality play an explicit role in the work of digital theologians? How can digital theologies from different contexts learn from each other? How do its contextualities impact the processes and outputs of digital theology?
All these questions are in turn deeply intertwined with digital transformations. The global use of digital technology restructures contextualities, it leads to forms of decontextualization of information and impacts how people perceive their context. Digital technologies have also played a role in creating new ways of intercontextuality, by connecting and disconnecting people globally and by creating new alliances and new conflicts. Whether or not people around the world are actively using digital technologies it is still forming the context in which they live.
Each era begets its own prophet; the digital age has seen its fair share. The technological innovation of today is the realisation of the dreams of dreamers who envisioned a different future.
Once created, pioneers have explored new vistas of the digital world pushing its limits, and seeing possibilities where others have remained oblivious, indifferent, or sceptical. As the novelty has worn off and digital innovations normalised into the mundanity of (postdigital) life, a new kind of prophet has emerged.
Standing at the margins looking beneath the glitzy surface of technological promise, this prophet exposes the suffering, exploitation within as well as the plight of those left behind by the digital revolution. Theirs are the utterances forged from the residues of the stories of old, bringing hope of a different future.
A significant body of work is emerging that engages with how religious faith and practice is shaped by digital technologies, media, and cultures.
This conference, hosted by the Global Network for Digital Theology, seeks to explore the impact of religious faith, practice, and theology on the digital world in both global and local contexts. We welcome papers for this conference in the following areas:
The first annual conference by the Global Network for Digital Theology was held online 14-16 July 2021.
Three broad areas were investigated.
How digital theology alters/augments theology
Digitality and theological method
The future of seminaries and theology departments and of theological dissemination