This post is part two of a five-part series reflecting on each session of a conference hosted by Notre Dame University. It was led by Christopher Watkin (Associate Professor of French Studies at Monash University, Melbourne). The goal of the conference, and goal of these reflections, was to engage thoughtfully with AI from a Christian perspective, consistent with our vision at Barker as a Christian leader in education. Click here for part 1: What Story is AI Telling Us? Reading and Responding to the Gospel of Tech

The importance of a biblical-theological framework

Scripture tells a four-part story: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. Each element is essential. Focusing only on creation can lead to technological naïveté, where innovation is viewed as inherently good. Focusing only on the fall can turn us into AI doomers, seeing every technological development as a threat. Concentrating solely on redemption may encourage us to be AI boomers with an overconfidence that all problems can be solved, while focusing only on consummation can foster disengagement from present concerns – AI scoffers.

The Christian story refuses these extremes. Creation reminds us that the world is good, the fall explains why it is broken, redemption points to Christ’s work of restoration, and consummation gives hope for God’s promised future. Whatever developments emerge in AI, Christians are called to engage with confidence and discernment rather than fear or blind enthusiasm.

This framework raises three foundational questions: What are we for? What story are we in? What counts as a good human life?

The risk of becoming Sovereign Slaves

One illustration on how AI use shapes human identity came from New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill, who allowed AI to make all her decisions for a week. She later described the experience as “flattening” (Hill, 2024). While AI can undoubtedly provide convenience and efficiency, it may also diminish opportunities to exercise wisdom, judgement, and moral responsibility.

Sociologist Sherry Turkle describes technologies such as social robots as “evocative objects - objects that force us to reflect on ourselves and our deepest values” (Turkle, 2016). AI is therefore more than a tool. It serves as a mirror, revealing our assumptions about freedom, control, and flourishing.

These examples demonstrate a central danger which is the temptation toward what might be called “sovereign slavery”. We pursue ever greater control over our lives yet become increasingly dependent on the systems designed to serve us. This echoes Romans 1, where humanity’s desire for autonomy from God ultimately results in bondage rather than freedom.

Augustine recognised a similar paradox in The City of God, arguing that the earthly city’s pursuit of mastery eventually leads to being mastered by its own desires. Philosopher Byung-Chul Han identifies the same dynamic in contemporary culture: “Achievement society is the society of self-exploration. The achievement-subject exploits itself until it burns out” (Han, 2015). The pursuit of optimisation can become its own form of slavery.

This tension is evident in some visions of AI-enhanced humanity. In an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom suggested that “all the problems we have, most of them, could be solved if we were smarter or had someone on our side who was smarter with better technology” (Rogan & Bostrom, 2019). Watkins challenged this view by asking a crucial question: if humanity requires an upgrade, who decides what counts as improvement? As C.S. Lewis warned in The Abolition of Man, if human nature itself is flawed, can humanity really be trusted to engineer its own salvation (Lewis, 1947)?

A gospel alternative: humans as crowned creatures

The Christian alternative is found in the biblical doctrine of humanity being made in the image of God. Reflecting on Psalm 8, Watkins noted that the psalm begins and ends with God, while describing humanity as ‘crowned creatures’. This vision grants both dignity and humility. Our value comes from God, yet we remain finite and dependent upon him.

While AI is a remarkable imitation engine, Watkins warned that our attempts to achieve sovereignty through technology often produce only a simulacrum - an imitation of control. We may appear sovereign yet remain enslaved. The gospel offers something different. Rather than merely imitating Christ, believers are invited to participate in his life, finding themselves in him and sharing in his blessings.

As we navigate the AI age, technology cannot answer the deepest questions of identity, purpose, and hope. Those questions are answered by the God who created us, redeems us, and calls us into his coming kingdom.

AI may change many aspects of society, but it cannot alter the fundamental truth that we are people made in the image of God, created for relationship with him and with one another.

References

Augustine. (2003). The city of God (H. Bettenson, Trans.). Penguin Classics. (Original work published ca. 426 CE)

Han, B. C. (2015). The burnout society (E. Butler, Trans.). Stanford University Press.

Hill, K. (2024, November 1). I took a “decision holiday” and put A.I. in charge of my life. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/01/technology/generative-ai-decisions-experiment.html

Lewis, C. S. (1947). The abolition of man. HarperOne.

Rogan, J. (Host), & Bostrom, N. (Guest). (2019, September 12). Joe Rogan Experience #1350 – Nick Bostrom [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4cv7rVlE8

Turkle, S. (2016). Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Penguin Press.

Rev. Craig Tubman

Craig Tubman serves as the Community Chaplain at Barker College. He has been in School’s Ministry for 17 years, serving previously as Senior Chaplain at St Andrews Cathedral School and The Cranbrook School. He is the Chair of the Sydney Anglican Schools Ministry Association (SASMA) and on the Sydney Anglican Diocesan Policy Statement on Education Review Committee. He is currently completing a Theological Research Masters on the topic of the role of the Chaplain in a Sydney Anglican School.