Andrew Noble

What we imagine most is what we image best. To navigate technology wisely, we must know Jesus.

The Side Syndrome: Why We Can't Think Clearly About AI Read enough Wendell Berry, and you might reject AI for the sake of nature.

Read enough Wendell Berry, and you might reject AI for the sake of nature.

Read enough Jacques Ellul, and you might reject AI for the sake of telos.

Or at least that’s how it seems to happen. The truth is much more complicated.

I wrote about that here:

www.andrewnoble.net/p/whats-your...

A "religionless" human is a mere construct, as thin and vacuous an abstraction as the "natural man" of Rousseau and the adherents of the social contract.

In reality it never existed.

- Herman Bavinck

Idols must be named, understood, and demythologized as part of Christian formation.

Technology is not just something that mediates between our mental intentions and the physical world about us, technology gets inside our heads and affects the very way in which we conceive our reality.

- George Pattison

Physical Bibles Are Homemade Apple Pie A bit embarrassingly, we have two kinds of pew Bibles at our church. I didn’t realize this until one of our preachers began telling us which page numbers to turn...

"Screens can be like a Swiss Army knife at a meal. The extra features distract from what’s important." @andrewnoble.bsky.social
ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/phys...

Every physical substance contains a spiritual reality.

It is only in Christ that we know what it is to be human.

- Herman Bavinck

Modern people have no moral ideal, no example; they are only infatuated with progress toward a misty ideal. They are, therefore, restless, empty, without authority, disconnected, and emancipated.

- Herman Bavinck in the early 1900s

It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sheep.

- God

Top 7 biblical themes to teach on technology:

1) idol / identity / image
2) creation / cultural mandate / new creation
3) exile / Babylon
4) shame / clothes / ark / imputation
5) possessions / ownership / money
6) relationship / church / love
7) virtue / Spirit / fruit

Would we have gotten C.S. Lewis’ enchantment without Barfield’s participation?

Theology podcasts I enjoy:

- Into Theology

- London Lyceum

- Mere Fidelity

- Grace in Common

- Thinking About The Faith (I cohost this one with Jon Cleland)

A story in two images.

All of modernity's problems stem from man's inability to admit he is not his own.

Love is best understood not merely as an act of will, in contrast to the act of the intellect, but rather as an ontological unity, within which we properly will and understand.

- D.C. Schindler

Sympathy/empathy in Calvin.

I also don’t think you should work for the devil!

(I appreciate your work though. And AI as mirror is a good approach, as you’ve said for TGC. Shannan Vallor has some good points about AI as mirror as well though I’d prefer your take over hers. She lacks a distinctly Christian virtue ethic)

Turkle is great.

It is different in many ways.

For one, I don’t think anyone has committed suicide due to a fond pet affection (see character AI case. See recent episode of Undivided Attention)

2, Underlying Gnosticism.

Each tool must be assessed on its own. Analogies are limited.

You can leverage your Ellul insights. Dan may not be familiar with them.

I think AI as companionship is increasingly important. I like connecting this to idolatry. (Idol in relational and inducing sense not as in the ultimate god sense of idol)

AI ethics tends to be weak on Christianity

Knowing “technology” for what it is requires the recognition of what has been lost politically and ethically.

- George Grant

Three kinds of Christians who aren’t ready for AI.

Those who lean too much on:

1) Pragmatics
2) Passivity
3) Pontification

Who is ready? The ones who are strong in prudence and purpose. They will thrive while the rest stumble.

Your Sermon Doesn’t Need AI We need to ask more than, “How might this save me time?” Ultimately, a pastor must ask himself and his elders: Is my use of GenAI ethical?

Seeing younger Christians think like this makes my heart sing!

“It is better for a pastor to be present w/ his people and to preach a text w/o elegance or extensive research than for a corner-cutting pastor to rely on technology.” @andrewnoble.bsky.social
ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/your...

What Churches Need to Know About Smart Glasses The key features of these glasses that are enhancing lives in one demographic can be exploited by others with harmful intent.

Important piece from @gravleyaustin.bsky.social
www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/chur...

Let us Christians, therefore, give thanks to the Lord our God — not to heaven and earth, as Cicero argues, but to the One who made heaven and earth.

- Augustine

I’ve read or skimmed around 5 or so books on AI.

When they talk about AI in HR, they struggle. They cherry pick data, exaggerate data, and either make AI seem better or worse than it actually is.

I sometimes wonder if AI is so vast a field that “experts” should speak more narrowly.

We nurture what we love, and we love what we nurture.

- Sherry Turkle

If you regard evangelism as the primary and/or foremost function of the church, then things like “virtual reality church” seem plausible. Too often, spiritualized pragmatism, rather than biblical ecclesiology, drive decisions as to what ought to be done and how.

True “mortification” in the context of Colossians 3:5 has to do with a transformation of the will, a new attitude of the mind (cf. Rom 6:11)... “a radical shifting of the very centre of the personality from self to Christ" (Moule)

- Peter O’Brien

Looking forward to diving into this!