Book REview God and the Machine: Navigating Faith in the Age of AI

 

God and the Machine:Navigating Faith in the Age of AI By Nathan Webb ©2026 Abingdon Press

From the bio on the Abingdon Press page for this book: “Nathan Webb is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and the founding pastor of Checkpoint Church, a digital-first United Methodist community”. In this book he takes on questions around the use of AI in the church.

Webb encourages us to look at these questions through the lens of the Great Commandment, which makes sense given that some would insist that all parts of the Christian life need to be viewed through that lens. He also holds the view that the choice to not discuss the role of AI in our life as a church is not tenable. AI is now a part of the world, and increasingly so (the growth since 2020 is astounding) and while the church, or at least parts of the church, have traditionally been slow to adopt new technology we risk being left behind if we do not engage. At the same time we have to admit that every new technology has two edges so what are the two edges that AI brings? He continually reminds us that just because we CAN do something does not necessarily mean that we should.

Webb starts with defining technology in general and AI specifically. He posits that as a tool we need to ask things like: who created/builds this, who uses it, who controls it, who benefits from it, and who does it serve. These are good questions for a variety of tech tools as we work out the best/most ethical way forward. Among the notes I took I jotted down the idea that if we are not intentional about our discernment we might not keep the ability to control how AI becomes a part of our lives. He also notes that because AI chatbots seem so human-like people have had a tendency to anthropomorphize AI. We need to resist and speak against that temptation. This is a theme he carries forward throughout the book – AI is not human, does not have human feelings, can not replace human caring and love.

In Chapter 3 Webb takes on the question of “Does God Use Technology?”. Maybe God, through human creativity is giving us the tech tools for us to use as part of how we serve God. In this case we need to discern how best to use those tools. This leads into Chapter 4 which looks at ethics around the use of AI.

Later in the book Webb raises the question of ecclesiology. In that chapter he discusses how Checkpoint Church operates and what the ecclesiology of that congregation is. He makes the very valid point that most of our congregations need to be more intentional about our ecclesiological assumptions.

The final chapter talks about what Webb refers to as “human forward thinking”. Here he talks about embodiment. He starts with talking about whether online interactions can be thought of as being embodies. HE said this is one of the criticisms he has frequently met when people ask if an online church can truly be seen as a church. It reminded me of a time 20 years ago when people wondered if digital community could truly be called community, or the early resistance to online dating. Later in the chapter he returns to the idea that AI is not embodied.

This was a good book. There is also a study guide available so it might be a good discussion group resource. Webb pushes us to consider how to move forward into a world where AI is a reality. He reminds us that AI should be seen as providing augmentation rather than replacement. As Christians we need to use whatever tools we us to build love and justice, as leaders we have to model healthy and ethical practices what ever we do. This is true whatever choices we make about AI.

Book REview AI and the Church: A Clear Guide for the Curious and Courageous

 

AI and the Church: A Clear Guide for the Curious and Courageous By Jason Moore ©2024 Invite Press 298 Pages (1369 Screens on my Kobo)

One morning this winter/spring I found myself in a discussion about whether or not we would use AI at St. Paul’s. Later that day I was book shopping and this one popped up in my feed (not because my computer heard the conversation that morning, because I was looking for another book by the same author). So I clicked to put it into my cart.

More and more it becomes obvious that we need to have discussions about how/if we will use AI in our private lives, in our churches, in our businesses. It is all around us. In fact, as Moore points out in this volume, we are using it already. AI has become a part of life in so many ways and will likely grow. Late in the book Moore makes some predictions about where AI might go next and there is a chance it will become even more inescapable. For better or worse it is part of the world we live in and will grow.

Moore starts the book with a recap of some of the ways AI is already a part of our worlds. Then he gives a history of how we got to where we are, followed by some definition of what AI is and what it is currently capable of. From there we move to Part II which looks in more depth at the foundation of AI and how the church might deal with it.

This section of the book starts with some of the concerns raised about AI and looks at why some people would resist it. Moore is open from the beginning that he believes the church should (carefully and intentionally) use AI but is also open to the reasons people are resistant. One of the pieces he names repeatedly throughout the text is that AI is a tool to help us, not a crutch to do things for us. HE also names repeatedly the importance of humans making decisions, being “in the driver’s seat” and that within the life of the church this needs to include discernment, listening for God’s voice/wisdom and prayer. Next Moore leads us in an exploration of some possible Scriptural basis for using AI. A couple questions I noted here were: “if God can communicate in a variety of ways already what is to say God can’t communicate through AI?”, is AI possibly a gift for God, a gift developing from people’s God-given creativity?”, “does AI as a research tool allow us a new way to access the wisdom of the ages, the ‘great cloud of wisdom’?”, and “what is the role of innovation/novelty/new wine & wineskins in the life of the church?”. The final chapter in Part II is an extended look at some of the ethical considerations that go with using AI. This is a very important chapter as we discern our approach to the tool.

Part III of the book takes us through a look at the various tools and platforms available. These chapters were of some interest (particularly the first which discussed chatbots) but were not the main reason I got the book. The chapters on chatbots and on image generation were quite detailed with many hints about making the best use of the tools and a comparison of the various tools/platforms that are out there. The third chapter, on video and audio tools, was less detailed largely because this is a less developed part of the AI world. While much has changed since the text was written and details of what the platforms can accomplish have grown (such is the speed of technology these days) the basics are there.

The final part of the book looks specifically at AI and the church (in fact that is the title of Part IV). Moore takes chapter 10 to list 10 ways that the church could make use of the tools he has discussed to this point. Some of them are, I think, more valid and useful than others. AI as a research assistant has some merit. AI as a sounding board to help with brainstorming and designing programs has merit. AI as a tool to help with statistical and/or historical collection and analysis is intriguing. AI as a graphic design piece is something I am less sold on. Finally Moore offers up a sample policy for churches to use when describing how AI will be used in their contexts. It is a very detailed policy geared toward a larger multi-staff and multi-program church so would be a bit excessive in many congregations but it raises (or reminds the reader) of some important points to consider.

As I said above, we have to deal with the question of AI. When is it appropriate? When is it not? Why? How do we ethically use these tools? I am not convinced a blanket “AI is bad don’t use it at all” statement is either realistic or helpful. SO how will we, as individuals and as organizations decide to respond to the reality of AI in the world?