Faith at the Frontiers

Social media helped people communicate with each other. AI does the opposite: people talk to it instead of another living being and become isolated. Human interaction, according to Katherine Schmidt, is one of the big differences between the two most recent technological revolutions, and why she is enthusiastic about the first but concerned about the second.

Katherine Schmidt is Associate Professor and Chair of the Theology and Religious Studies Department at Molloy University. In this interview she tackles some of the big problems with AI, especially for education, before turning to some of the more hopeful opportunities it creates: such as forcing us to educate better and think better about what it means to be human.

Thanks to Jamie Maule for audio editing!

We're excited to have Carmody Grey back on the show to discuss LLMs from the perspective of theology. We talk about the possible threats posed by A.I., the political questions it raises, and its deeper significance for how it is changing us.

This Episode is *Not* about Angels... Join us as we talk with Marie van Emerick and Oliver Wright: two scholars at Pembroke College Oxford who are working in the area of theology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. They emphasize the role of the humanities in responding to and engaging with big questions raised by LLMs, especially when it comes to questions about what it means to be human. What do these technologies reveal to us about ourselves, and how are they shaping us?

Josh Lawman, a software engineer who works with LLMs, gives us the inside look at how they work. Are they really a groundbreaking innovation like the printing press and the internet? What are the dangers of thinking they can solve all the world's problems? What perspective does Christianity bring to the debate?

These and other questions are discussed in this episode. Enjoy!

Thanks to Jamie Maule for sound engineering!

Welcome to a new series on Artificial Intelligence!

In this episode Professor Ruth Okediji joins us on the show to talk about the rapid rise of Large Language Models (LLMs). Why have they been so quickly adopted by so many people? What ethical and legal challenges do they present? How can we use them wisely and responsibly to help us and our society become better from a Christian point of view?

This is the first of a wide variety of perspectives on AI from many different areas of expertise.

Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering!

In this episode Nick Townsend revisits the distinction between nationalism and patriotism by noting the difference between nationalism as a claim about where political power should lie (that is, with the nation state), and nationalism as a claim about what political power is for.

Barney’s new book is out, coauthored with Professor DavidElcott! On the Significance of Religion in Immigration Policy.

You can buy the book here or download it free here.

The book guides you through the Jewish and Christianarguments made for many different immigration policies throughout history and in the present day. It has sections that discuss:

• Bible verses used on all sides of the debate
• The state of Israel
• Christian values and US Immigration policy
• Ambiguities in the Jewish tradition
• European Immigration in medieval times and today
• Differences between Catholic, Orthodox, & Protestant approaches to immigration

In this conversation, Austin asks us questions about theintended audience of the book, its goals and aims, and we also talk a bit about the disagreements we had to overcome in order to have a truly interreligious publication!

In this episode, Barney and Austin interview the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams for his views on Christian nationalism. He offers us wisdom that seeks what is good about both sides of the debate and aims to synthesise them into a thoroughly Christian way of thinking about national identity.Thanks to Jamie Maule for his sound engineering!

In this episode, Barney & Austin stage a head-to-head on whether Christian nationalism is a good thing or not!

It’s time to gather the insights from our past episodes together and see which argument is strongest. Barney takes the “pro-Christian Nationalism” side and Austin takes the “anti-Christian Nationalism” position. Who is going to win?

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the real views of the speakers.Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).
• Alasdair MacIntyre, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994).
• Luke Bretherton, Christianity and Contemporary Politics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
• Hugo Rahner, Church and State in Early Christianity (Ignatius Press, 1992).
• N. T. Wright and Michael Bird, Jesus and the Powers (Zondervan, 2024).
• Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum.

• Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things They Don’t Tell You about Capitalism (Bloomsbury, 2012).

Thanks to Jamie Maule for the post-production!

Is Christian nationalism the proper term for what is happening in Russia? What is unique about Putin's claims of civilizational superiority compared with western nations? What does orthodox theology offer into this mix that is distinct from Catholic or Protestant theologies? We talk with Cyril Hovorun to consider these and other questions in the next installment in our series on Christian nationalism.