Book Review: Theology in a Digital World

 

Theology in a Digital World by David Lochhead ©1988 UCPH (95 pages)

This piece by the late David Lochhead [1936-1999] (https://grokipedia.com/page/david_lochhead), United Church minister, theologian and professor is part of the early discussions of the role of computers in the life of the church. Written in the early days of personal and home computing and the very early days computer networks it is ahead of its time.

In 1988 many of us had barely even used a computer and when we had it was not to communicate with others – it was for word processing, or spreadsheets, or games. There were some early adopters who had been playing with programming for much of the 1980’s and those of us who went to see the movie War Games (1983) knew that it was possible for computers to connect across the miles – though that was in a setting that was both comedic and terrifying at the same time.

Lochhead was an early adopter. He was part of early networks like UCHUG and ECUNET and saw the potential for what these new possibilities (he calls the computer a possibility machine) could mean for the church. He also saw the need to give thought to how these changes needed to be intentional and would change the church. Still he is very positive on what he sees coming.

Each of the book’s 6 chapters is something that was first prepared for another purpose: public lectures, worskshops, addresses at conferences. The earliest dates back to 1984, which means it truly was ahead of it’s time. In 1984 the only computers I had seen in person were school machines with green screens and only operated using commands – menu-driven machines were yet to hit the market. As such there is some repetition of themes and comments over the course of the book.

Lochhead talks about how the computer changes communication patterns, looks at some of the theological questions that this new technology brings up, and how we might find ourselves using it. He is clear that the computer (even in what we would now call early early stages) can make big changes in how we are the church, how we build community. He is also clear that the computer is a tool (and more than a tool) and that it itself is not salvific, that, as he says at one point “That Computers have heir place in the Kingdom, I have no doubt. That computers will create the Kingdom, I have no illusion” (p.80). In the final chapter,”Toward a Theology of Information”, he talks about the differences between information and knowledge, facts/data and interpreting/organizing them to find meaning. I would have liked some more discussion about where things like truth and wisdom fit in to that discussion.

I found that Lochhead was somewhat prescient in this book, written on the cusp of a new world. At the same time so much has changed in the last 40 years as this new world has changed a few times. In the late 1980s any computer networking was text only, with all the limits that written text has in full communication. Now we share images and audio and video. It was a fairly small percentage of people who were involved in networks at that time – now with the advent of social media it has blossomed into something so much bigger. Lochead sees both the positive and negative effects of a ne technology (as he names that is the reality of any new technology). He is, I think [speaking with knowledge of what the Internet has become and how it has re-shaped/is reshaping our society] overly optimistic. I often found myself wondering what he would say in 2026.

This volume raises good theological questions, ones that continue to be relevant as we continue to be re-shaped by the possibility machine of the computer. The die has been cast, we can not go back to the pre-computer way of being. More changes are building (eg. the rise of AI). We still have to ask the questions. We still have to be intentional about how we build community using the tools and reality of our time. What is our theology in an increasingly digital world?