Cybergrace

Theologian and high-tech consultant Jennifer Cobb combines her expertise to create a new theory of the Divine in the Information Age. As computers and artificial intelligence systems become more sophisticated, the question of whether we can find spiritual life in cyberspace is beginning to be asked. CyberGrace: The Search for God in the Digital World is a bold, thought-provoking, affirmative answer to one of the most intriguing inquiries of our time. Until now, an unbridgeable schism has separated the world of the spirit and that of the machine. According to an increasingly compelling concept known as emergence, the gulf may be an imaginary one. Fifty years ago, Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin combined his lifelong passions of God and science to predict the emergence of cyberspace, based on his studies of evolution. Using Teilhard's theories as a starting point, Jennifer Cobb asserts that as technical systems become more complex--with simple, predictable mechanisms coalescing into hierarchies of increasing organization--something elegant, inspired, and absolutely unpredictable simply and suddenly "emerges." Many observers today see this "hand of God" showing itself in disparate disciplines, from evolutionary theory to artificial intelligence--and especially in the furthest realms of cyberspace, where brute computation seems to give way to divine inspiration. CyberGrace offers paradoxical evidence that our machines may be conduits to a deeper spirituality. With daily headlines announcing dizzying advances in science and information technology, many people wonder about their--and their children's--ability to lead lives imbued by a sense of the sacred. In the new world, where the search for spirituality may seem scattered and unfocused, Cobb brilliantly uses the most popular and prevalent phenomenon of our times--the computer--to find a world filled with meaning and love.

In 2013, Edward Snowden released a trove of documents revealing the extent of government electronic surveillance. Since then, we have been inundated with reports of vicious malware attacks, election hacking, data breaches, potential cyberwars, fights over Net Neutrality, and fake internet news. Where once discussion of cyberspace was full of hope of incredible potential benefits for humanity and global connection, it has become the domain of fear, anxiety, conflict, and authoritarian impulses. As the cloud of the Net darkens into a storm, are there insights from Christian theology about our online existence? Is the divine present in this phenomenon known as cyberspace? Is it a realm of fear or a realm of hope? In The Cyberdimension, Eric Trozzo engages these questions, seeking not only a theological means of speaking about cyberspace in its ambiguity, but also how the spiritual dimension of life provokes resistance to the reduction of life to what can be calculated. Rather than focusing on the content available online, he looks to the structure of cyberspace itself to find a chastened yet still expectant vision of divinity amidst the political, economic, and social forces at play in the cyber realm.

The papers in this volume reflect the debates that progressed during the 4th Global conference on Cybercultures: Exploring Critical Issues, held as a part of Cyber Hub activity in Salzburg, Austria in March 2009. The edited draft papers make up a snapshot for the actual publishing.

This is the first book to bring together many aspects of the interplay between religion, media and culture from around the world in a single comprehensive study. Leading international scholars provide the most up-to-date findings in their fields, and in a readable and accessible way.Some of the topics covered include religion in the media age, popular broadcasting, communication theology, popular piety, film and religion, myth and ritual in cyberspace, music and religion, communication ethics, and the nature of truth in media saturated cultures.The result is not only a wide-ranging resource for scholars and students, but also a unique introduction to this increasingly important phenomenon of modern life.

This volume explores the relationship between new media and religion, focusing on the digital era’s impact on the Russian Orthodox Church. A believer may now enter a virtual chapel, light a candle through drag-and-drop, send an online prayer request, or worship virtual icons and relics. In recent years, however, Church leaders and public figures have become increasingly skeptical about new media. The internet, some of them argue, breaches Russia’s “spiritual sovereignty” and implants values and ideas alien to Russian culture. This collection examines how Orthodox ecclesiology has been influenced by its new digital environment, such as the intersection of virtual religious life with religious experience in the “real” church, the role of clerics on the Russian Web, and the transformation of the Orthodox notion of sobornost’ (catholicity), asking whether and how Orthodox activity on the internet can be counted as authentic religious practice.

A trenchant study of the impact of globalization on the world's major institutions shows how the new "authorities" are influenced by religious and spiritual principles. Original.

This explorative study of personal spiritual expressions on Instagram generated important data in relation to the emerging field of cyberspirituality and showed the need for further development and research. The book reveals several forms of spirituality present on Instagram, mainly belonging to secular spirituality. Many spiritual practices emerged in posts from all over the world, demonstrated through photography as spiritual practice. The Internet—and social media in particular—present an opportunity for individuals and communities to develop spiritual narrative when communicating online, especially with young people who are more likely to express themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Spiritual authenticity on social media, as a part of building spiritual capital, is an important step.