Description
Book SynopsisTechnology is an integral part our world. But how does inter-human technology affect our ability to be present to one another, to God, to ourselves, and to the world around us? Modern technologies are reshaping human relationships. While they offer new possibilities for presence across time and space, they also function as either a substitute for human relationships or as a filter that mediates relationships between ourselves and others. In our technologically saturated world, it is vital that we become aware of how these technologies alter our perceptions, our actions, and our relationships. Religious and Cultural Implications of Technology-Mediated Relationships in a Post Pandemic World offers a variety of positions on how technology is influencing religious communal and cultural life. There is no doubt that our interaction with technology will shape the human community up ahead. These essays provide a basis for thoughtful choice and action.
Trade ReviewWhen COVID isolated us from each other, technology kept us connected. Well, sort of. What actually happens when we human beings, who are innately social, put our social connections online? Are we still fully present to each other? Chatbots and robotic companions have already moved in to live with us, rechanneling if not replacing human connections altogether. Religious communities are discovering how quickly technology is altering religious practices. Will technology make us less human or more human? This book offers thoughtful analyses, multiple vantage points, and diverse perspectives all driving at one question: How is technology modifying the human social fabric and, in so doing, remaking humanity?
-- Ron Cole-Turner, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Table of ContentsPreface
Steven Barrie-Anthony
Introduction
Noreen Herzfeld
Part I: Technology, Religious Practices and the COVID Pandemic
Chapter One: Technology and Ancestor Offerings
Natasha Heller
Chapter Two: The Meanings of Presence in Judaism: How Expressions of Social Community Evolved Over Centuries and Adapted Under Stress To COVID
Amy Sue Bix
Part II: Remaining Human in a Digital Age
Chapter Three: Social Technology and the Paradoxes of Spirituality and Attachment
Steven Barrie-Anthony
Chapter Four: Re-visioning Friendship and Spirituality in an Age of Social Media
Jennifer Constantine Jackson
Chapter Five: Paying Attention to Where We Pay Attention: Rethinking the Attention Economy through the Lens of Simone Weil
Lisa M. Dolling
Part III: Digital Media and Contemplative Imagination
Chapter Six: Technology and Contemplative Pedagogy
Beverly McGuire
Chapter Seven: Technology and the Arts
Kevin Healy
Part IV. Technology, Materiality and Embodiment
Chapter Eight: Crypto-Ethic? Presence, Relationality, and Care Among Digital Currencies
Devin Singh
Chapter Nine: “‘Grow Old with Me’: Humanoid Robots and the Aging Process”
Noreen Herzfeld
Part V. Looking Beyond the Pandemic
Chapter Ten: Why Technology Is Our Future
Ilia Delio
About the Contributors
