Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters
Prometheus, 2023
Critical Review of Digital Capitalism and Distributive Forces by Sabine Pfeiffer (2022). Pfeiffer... more Critical Review of Digital Capitalism and Distributive Forces by Sabine Pfeiffer (2022). Pfeiffer's analysis of "Digital Capitalism" provides a plausible account for the development of the current economic paradigm. On her account, what has changed primarily in the digital era are "distributive" forces rather than productive, such as advertising and marketing, transport and warehousing, and control and prediction. One of the underexplored implications of her work is that the profit needed to sustain capitalism is nearing crisis, as there are decreasing ways to enhance profit generation.
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Journal of Moral Theology, 2023
On July 21, 2021, the Catholic Substack "The Pillar" printed an "expose" on Monsignor Jeffrey Bur... more On July 21, 2021, the Catholic Substack "The Pillar" printed an "expose" on Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill regarding alleged use of the gay hook-up app Grinder. Responses across Catholic-oriented social media were divided and demonstrated the need for clear Catholic ethics of privacy. This paper advances principles of a Catholic ethic of privacy based in Catholic concepts of dignity and human rights and their place within a broader notion of justice.
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International Journal for Chinese and Comparative Philosophy of Medicine, 2023
While Lyreskog et al. insist on the need for new “concepts and frameworks” for the use of artific... more While Lyreskog et al. insist on the need for new “concepts and frameworks” for the use of artificially intelligent brain control interfaces (ABTs), the model of the human person and human flourishing they seem to be operating from is itself questionable. Though questions of autonomy or privacy are important, these should not be subordinated to questions of whose values are imbedded in these technologies, and which ideologies they promote. The application of ABTs beyond strictly therapeutic uses is underwritten by a transhumanist anthropology, one that is inherently biased toward neurotypicalism and favors an instrumental rationality approach to moral valuation. Thus, I argue that the new “concepts and frameworks” for ABTs need to be framed in conversation with critical voices lest ABTs become this century’s version of phrenology.
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Journal of Moral Theology, 2022
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Journal of Moral Theology, Mar 2022
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Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 2019
Carl Mitcham, Albert Borgmann, Jacques Ellul and others argue that modern technology is inherentl... more Carl Mitcham, Albert Borgmann, Jacques Ellul and others argue that modern technology is inherently antithetical to Christianity. The character of technology is supposedly at odd with the character of the Christian life. This paper challenges that claim in two moves. First, I examine the ways in which Christian theology has been formed by particular technologies, including Roman crucifixion, the printing press and transoceanic navigation. Important branches of Christian theology including Christology, biblical studies and missiology are critically dependent upon particular technologies which facilitated new historical developments, especially the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the spread of Protestant literature and the transoceanic migration of Christian missionaries. Second, I contend that the technologies examined shed light on a complicated relationship between the realm of the "sacred" and technologies. Technologies, as either artifacts or systems of knowledge can have the character of being sacred or sacramental. As sacred, technologies fall strongly within the purview of religious devotion as is the case with relics or icons. As sacramental, they influence the field of theology, sometimes through augmentation and other times through restriction. Thus, it is both the case that technologies can be compatible with Christianity, and that they can have a net positive effect on religion, expanding the fields of theological reflection and religious devotion.
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Interface Theology, 2020
The prospect of labor automation raises the question of the role of work in a good Christian life... more The prospect of labor automation raises the question of the role of work in a good Christian life. This article examines three polar theologies of work present in Catholic thought: labor as drudgery, labor as dignified calling and labor as an obstacle. These three theologies inform an eschatological vision of labor-Christians are called to work to build the kingdom of God, not merely to acquire material possessions. Finally, two ultimate issues are raised: the distribution of resources and the problem of idleness in a post-labor world. All of this suggests Catholics must promote a future of dignified labor dedicated to love of neighbor and God.
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This paper explores the "dramaturgical" performance of the pastoral persona on ... more This paper explores the "dramaturgical" performance of the pastoral persona on social media using the foundational work of Erving Goffman and the social scientific studies of Sherry Turkle, Nancy K. Baym, Carrie James and Jose van Dijck. I argue pastors must carefully consider the nature of the medium, the character of the medium, and the persona they portray on the medium in carrying out pastoral ministry in conjunction with social media.
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Facial Recognition technologies promise to facilitate interaction between strangers, but the phen... more Facial Recognition technologies promise to facilitate interaction between strangers, but the phenomenology of encounter in the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel and Emmanuel Levinas suggests mediated interaction can never achieve genuine, moral intersubjectivity.
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This paper explores the relationship between Christianity and new technologies. I contend that th... more This paper explores the relationship between Christianity and new technologies. I contend that the “Christ and Culture” model of H. Richard Niebuhr, while influential for many authors, is inadequate to grasp the real relationship. Authors who follow this framework tend to overlook the reality of the situation due to in-built biases. Actor-Network Theory, which attends carefully to intricate networks of relations, is a better lens to understand this relation. This allows us to see that Christianity interplays with new technologies, sometimes shaping them and sometimes being shaped by them.
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Eighty years ago, Nicholas Berdyaev cautioned that new technological problems needed to be addres... more Eighty years ago, Nicholas Berdyaev cautioned that new technological problems needed to be addressed with a new philosophical anthropology. Today, the transhumanist goal of mind uploading is perceived by many theologians and philosophers to be dangerous due to its violation of the human person. I contrast transhumanist " patternist " views of the person with Brent Waters's Augustinian view of the technological pilgrim, Celia Deane-Drummond's evolutionary Thomistic view of humanity, and Francis Fukuyama's insistence on the inviolability of " Factor X ". These latter three thinkers all disagree with the patternist position, but their views are also discordant with each other. This disagreement constitutes a challenge for people of faith confronting transhumanism—which view is to be taken right? I contend that Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies can enrich our understanding of the debates by highlighting the transmutation of philosophical view into scientific theory and the intermingled nature of our forms of knowledge. Furthermore, I contend that STS helps Christians understand the evolution of their own anthropologies and suggests some prospects for future theological anthropology.
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Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
This article explores the problem of personal ethics for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of... more This article explores the problem of personal ethics for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Unlike, e.g., Roman Catholics, Mormons do not have a systematic theoretical approach to ethical problems; this article examines the theories proposed by some authors and suggests that Latter-day Saints would do well with a Thomistic-like natural law ethic. I examine the parallels in Thomas Aquinas's thought and that of Joseph Smith and suggest Mormons could learn from the moral theology of Roman Catholics.
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Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics, 2020
"What is of extreme importance…is that we should know what course to steer…if we are to ensure th... more "What is of extreme importance…is that we should know what course to steer…if we are to ensure that the totalitarian embrace which enfolds us will have the effect…of superhumanizing us by the intensification of our powers of understanding and love."-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ1 The Catholic Church, as is true with every other Christian church, needs to respond quickly and carefully to new technological problems. The transhuman project-the goal of self-directed human evolution by means of science and technology-is one such problem and is perhaps the paradigmatic techno-moral problem of the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, as has been pointed out by authors like Brian Green and Mark Graham, the Church has not always dealt with technological problems well, nor in a systematized way.2 This chapter is an attempt to consider how Catholics might respond to transhumanism, with the assumption that the work done here can be expanded to other technological problems as well. There are at least two challenges to accomplishing this feat. First, it is facetious to think my response is the Catholic response. The Catholic theological tradition spans numerous styles of thought, eras, languages and perspectives. I show below that there are already numerous apologies for religious transhumanism, not all of which are antithetical to dogmatic Catholicism. Different charisms, traditions, or interpretations of Catholic teaching will yield different considerations. For example, the early-modern casuistry of the Society of Jesus has a different moral focus from the new virtue ethics approach of James Keenan. Thus, the first challenge is in Checketts 1
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On July 21, 2021, journalists from Catholic Substack "The Pillar" published what they considered ... more On July 21, 2021, journalists from Catholic Substack "The Pillar" published what they considered an expose of a priest who used the gay dating app Grindr. The controversy surrounding the story suggests the need for a Catholic ethic of privacy. I outline the beginning of one, starting with philosophical and legal reflections on privacy before turning to a theological defense for the right to privacy. Privacy is necessary for protecting goods related to the public, domestic and individual sphere, namely: reputation, family intimacy, and conscience. I then propose injustice as the major criterion for breaching the prima facie right to privacy and conclude with that grace and mercy ought to be normative elements of a Catholic ethic of privacy.
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Journal of Moral Theology, 2022
At the end of Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner, after nearly killing the film's protagonist ... more At the end of Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner, after nearly killing the film's protagonist Deckard, replicant Roy Batty reflects, "Quite an experience to live in fear-that's what it's like to be a slave."1 The movie's replicants are biologically engineered humans, but the book on which it is based, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, portrays
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Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased: Psychological, Scientific, and Theological Perspectives, 2022
Sheila Jasanoff and other STS researchers refer to a "sociotechnical imaginary" as "collectively ... more Sheila Jasanoff and other STS researchers refer to a "sociotechnical imaginary" as "collectively held and performed visions of desirable futures…animated by shared understandings of forms of social life and social order attainable through, and supportive of,
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I argue that the intractability between transhumanists and their opponents often reduces to compe... more I argue that the intractability between transhumanists and their opponents often reduces to competing idolatries, that is, they uphold frozen viewpoints of the human being that can not be supported by careful phenomenological investigation. I suggest, instead, the vision of "Homo gubernator," humanity as pilots. This vision suggests humans are evolved and evolving, socially contingent, technologically interdependent and teleological. Aside from these facts, many other ideas can be said, but little else concrete can be asserted about humanity.
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This paper challenges the thesis of advanced by such authors as Carl Mitcham, Albert Borgmann and... more This paper challenges the thesis of advanced by such authors as Carl Mitcham, Albert Borgmann and Jaques Ellul that technology is endemic to Christianity. I contend that both terms technology and Christianity are too ambiguous for this thesis to be defended with much certainty. Instead, I suggest that Christianity and technologies are co-constitutive, with technologies determining the shape of Christianity and Christian theologies and social institutions impacting the development and proliferation of technologies. Thus, some technologies are sacralized within Christianity. I look at three specific examples of “sacred things”: the Roman crucifix, the printing press and transoceanic navigational technologies. Each of these “things” was instrumental in creating or altering entire branches of theology, thus creating more of “the sacred” and simultaneously becoming an indelible part of Christian history. Thus, we must recognize that not only is “technology” itself not certainly opposed to faith; in many cases faith is unintelligible apart from certain concrete technologies. Christianity cannot be opposed to technology because Christianity (and, more generally modern philosophy) has become what it is not in spite of but because of technological developments.
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Techné, 2021
: Mitcham, Borgmann, and others argue the character of technology is at odds with the character o... more : Mitcham, Borgmann, and others argue the character of technology is at odds with the character of Christian life. This paper challenges that claim in two moves. First, I examine ways Christian theology has been formed by Roman crucifixion, the printing press, and transoceanic navigation; Christology, biblical studies, and missiology are critically dependent upon technologies that facilitated the death of Jesus, the spread of Protestant literature, and the migration of missionaries. Second, I contend that these technologies shed light on a complicated relationship between the realm of the “sacred” and technologies. Technologies can have the character of being sacred or sacramental. As sacred, technologies fall within the purview of religious devotion like relics or icons. As sacramental, they influence the field of theology, through augmentation or restriction. Thus, technologies can be compatible with Christianity and have a positive effect on religion, expanding the fields of theological reflection and religious devotion.
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