Thinking Critically and Christianly About Technology

To think critically and Christianly about technology is to engage in a process of careful judgment and evaluation of it using Christian principles. The principles proposed here are that technology ought to facilitate (1) communion with God, (2) preservation of human life and improvement of human welfare, and (3) preservation and protection of the natural world. Application of these principles easily yields obvious approbation and disapprobation for technology. Closer examination, however, reveals that technology is ambivalent, it promotes subsidiary goods to primary importance, it contributes to the illusion of human sovereignty, and it is a source of moral distraction. From these and other considerations, it may be concluded that while technology may be intrinsically value-neutral, instrumentally speaking it tends toward evil in the hands of fallible humans. Christians therefore ought to be more prudent in the development, choice, and use of technology.