Public Theologies of Technology and Presence

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence (2018-2022) gathered and funded a cohort of leading scholars of religion, theologians, and journalists for their work addressing a pressing concern of contemporary life: The ways in which technologies reshape human relationships and alter how people are or are not “present” with each other. The initiative was developed and directed by psychoanalyst and religion scholar Dr. Steven Barrie-Anthony, and was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. While the initiative has ended, the grantees’ work remains alive—collaborative projects continue, and a still-emerging stream of publications lay out the grantees’ research findings and their relevance to some of the central concerns of modern life.

Over recent decades and continuing at warp speed, new technologies are radically reshaping human relationships. These shifts have profound implications both for individuals and for the webs of relationships in which they participate. Scholars of religion and theologians, from across the traditions, are ideally situated to address this issue of great public concern. Public Theologies of Technology and Presence forwards and champions this work through an ambitious agenda of research projects, conferences, popular and scholarly publishing, active engagements with Silicon Valley technologists, the development of models for integrating the subject into university and theological institution curricula, a podcast, white paper, and grantee talks.

The grantees’ research and publication projects draw on the study of many different religions—Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Africana religions, among others—to address cutting-edge technologies such as cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, human augmentation, surveillance technologies, video games, and social media. The projects offer insights into technologies’ impacts on human relationships, including on friendships, introspective abilities, sexual relationships, moral attentions, and capacities for relational authenticity.

The initiative has helped support 14 books; more than 50 scholarly chapters and articles; more than 20 popular articles such as in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, Aeon, The Conversation, San Francisco Chronicle, and Tricycle; and more than 80 scholarly presentations. To explore the grantees’ work further, see the links below. Highlights include publications (see “Publications and Outputs”); research talks from the capstone conference (see “Capstone Conference Presentations”); and interviews regarding teaching on these themes (see “Pedagogy Project”).

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence also supports several ongoing collaborations:

  • “Black Digital Religion: Exploring Interconnections between Black Religion and Emerging Digital Technologies,” led by Principal Investigator Dr. Margarita Simon Guillory at Boston University, with Secondary Investigator Dr. Gregory Price Grieve.
  • “Prioritizing Presence in a Post-Pandemic World,” led by Dr. Natasha Heller at the University of Virginia, in collaboration with several fellow grantees.
  • “Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age,” led by Co-Investigators Dr. Ilia Delio at the Center for Christogenesis, and Dr. Noreen Herzfeld.

Stephen T. Asma

Professor of Philosophy, Columbia College Chicago

Amy Sue Bix

Professor, Department of History, Iowa State University

Sheila Briggs

Associate Professor, Departments of Religion and Gender Studies, University of Southern California

Ilia Delio, OSF

Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology, Villanova University

Gregory Price Grieve

Professor and Head, Religious Studies Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Margarita Simon Guillory

Associate Professor, Religion and African American Studies, Boston University

Kevin Healey

Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of New Hampshire

Natasha Heller

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

Noreen Herzfeld

Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion, St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict

Noreen Herzfeld

Beverley McGuire

Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Beverley McGuire

Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Associate Professor, School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oregon State University

Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Devin Singh

Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Dartmouth College

Devin Singh

R. John Williams

Associate Professor, Departments of English and Film and Media Studies, Yale University

R. John Williams