Where Does Technology Fit in the Story of God? (Part 2)
A Theology of Technology for Coders and Artists
Editor’s Note: Our friend John Dyer gave this talk at FaithTech’s Global Meetup in May 2020. This transcript, lightly edited, is part 2 of 2. Read part 1 here. Watch the full video here.
Technology is a great conduit for truth, but technology itself is also a form of truth that teaches us, informs us in particular ways. So the other thing I want you to know as creators and makers is that, we need creators. Not because people need a new and novel thing. Not because they need something fancy or shiny, but because they’re longing for depth and connection. And again, the biblical story teaches us this.
Remember Moses when he was up on the mountain, and he’s up there getting these great instructions from God, and the people have been in a desert for a long time. They had a way of life that made sense to them, and now they’re in this new place and they really don’t know what’s happening. They don’t know where to go. And you know what they did while Moses was up there? They got fed up. So the thing they did is they engage their creativity, and they make a golden calf.
Now we know idols are bad, right? But people are looking for symbols of meaning and connection in their life, and they will make those things if they don’t have them.
Now Moses comes down full of all these things that are going to be originally symbolic for the people. But when they didn’t have those, when there was a desert in their own lives, they go seek it somewhere else. And our entire world is in that same scenario right now during COVID. They had a way of life that made sense to them.
And even if they got to get rid of their commute or some other change that was positive, they’re in a world where they’re seeking, they’re looking for something, and a lot of people will make cows, and we want to find ways to give them human connection.
People are looking for symbols of meaning and connection in their life, and they will make those things if they don’t have them.
People were being all kinds of creative, finding ways to use technology to create human connection. This is part of what we can provide as people get back to business, finding ways to help them to reconnect using our technology and not to be disconnected.
So people are longing for something not just new and interesting, but they really want you to help them find depth and find connection.
God’s likeness vs godlike-ness
When I’m telling this biblical story, I explain that we start in the garden, we end in a city, and Jesus is this great hope in the middle — that we are going to be makers and creators.
But I want to mention one other thing. There’s going to be this danger out there that people will see technology itself as a savior, instead of seeing the savior as one who’s loving our creation.
But there’s this sort of alternate story out there that says that humanity was dominated and that technology is going to come along and solve everything. And then we’ll be free from everything. Our human dignity in the scriptures is based on our being made in God’s likeness. But there’s this great temptation to trade it for godlike-ness. That we could become like God in some way, that Adam and Eve wanted to grasp at that fruit. And that we need to reach past where we are to become more godlike. And I don’t think that’s what God is calling us to do. As creators, as people made in God’s likeness and made in his image, we want to uphold the dignity of all of his image bearers, no matter who they are, that there aren’t people who are less than because they don’t have the same things.
This is not the idea that technology’s our savior, but our savior loves us as his creation and loves the creations that he makes and that we make.
Creators Filled with God’s Spirit
So finally, I just want to encourage you with this. The church needs us. Needs us as creators. Not just because of your gifting, but because the spirit is on you.
You are gifted in your code, in whatever it is that you make, whether it’s apps or websites or the things that you’re going to build with your technology. But ultimately the deepest thing that you have is the spirit of God.
The very first time that the spirit of God descends on a person in the story of scriptures, the very first time the spirit comes on somebody, it’s not Moses. It’s not one of the people who are given the words of God. It’s someone who’s given to make something. It’s this guy, Bezalel. When the spirit of God descends on a person in scripture the very first time, it’s a maker. It’s someone who is commanded to take all the abstract truths that God has given them and to put them in a form that people understand. Remember the Israelites were largely illiterate. All of these symbols, all these smells, all these images, these are the things that would show them who God is.
We’re in a world today that is largely technological. And we are the people that can bring that message to them because of not only the skills that Bezalel has, but because the spirit of God descends upon them.
When the spirit of God descends on a person in scripture the very first time, it’s a maker.
And there’s a rich history that I would love to go through of Benedictine monks taking things like the windmill that everybody had known about before, but they just preferred to use slaves. And the monks said, “Wait! This is a way that we can free people up.” There’s so many stories like this in history, of people taking and using creation and using their creativity in ways that promote human flourishing. And I hope that the people reading this can do that same thing.
Creation and Communion
And when we get to meet together, one of the things I want to remind you of is that when we finally get to participate in word and sacrament together again, that right there at the center of what we do is God’s Word that is on a technology of a book or a screen. But also even when we take in the elements of communion, that those too are an act of human creativity, that we look back to what Jesus did and we look forward to his coming in the same motion, not with just a natural thing like grapes and grain, but with something that humans have made.
And when we look forward in the story, we’re going to a place where God will have things that we have made and his will is to have them be redeemed in some way. And so the way that we make things today, we can do it in light of that kingdom.
A friend of mine is a professional musician who goes around playing on ships and in concerts. And a couple of years ago when Billy Graham died, he said to me, “Man, I feel so sad because I’ve never done anything as great, or shared the gospel with as many people, as Billy Graham has. All I do is just make music that makes people feel happy for a little bit.” And I told him, “You know, Billy Graham is in heaven and he’s able to still praise God, but his job is done. When you die, you’ll be playing music forever. This is your call — to be creator for all time.”
So those of you who are makers and creators, this is your calling, not just now, not just in the temporary, but in this future coming day, where God will make all things right. And so let’s create for this new kingdom. Let’s create now to redeem people. Let’s create in light of the city to come.
John Dyer (PhD, Durham University) is a dean and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has also been a technology creator for more than 20 years, building tools used by Facebook, Google, Apple, Anheuser-Busch, the Department of Defense, and the Digital Bible Society. His open source code is now used on more than 30% of websites. He has written on technology and faith for a number of publications including Gizmodo, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and in the book From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology. You can find out more about him at https://j.hn/.
Editor’s Note: John’s book From the Garden to the City is one of the nine books you can win this summer with our Writing Contest. Find more details here.
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