How should Christians think about artificial intelligence? AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday life: shaping how we work, learn, create, communicate, and even think. What theological resources should Christians bring to this development? What opportunities should we welcome? What dangers should concern us? And what might faithful Christian engagement with AI look like?
Matthew Bryan: Authentic Intelligence Unites
Artificial intelligence faces the same problem as theodicy, “How can a good, omniscient and almighty deity allow evil to exist?” Rephrased for AI, we ask, “How would a program with limitless knowledge and (thereby) ability avoid compromising individual human freedoms? At their core, both problems recognize the inherent tension between unity and autonomy; unification threatens us with forced uniformity while absolute autonomy would pit humans against one another in complete anarchy. We can complain that God allows evil under the unity of his sovereignty, but who among us does not want to sin against that same sovereignty? We can enjoy quicker access to knowledge through an AI chatbot, yet we invite the monetizing of our personal traits each time we ask it a question. We want the benefits of AI’s unified information and capability without compromising our individuality.
The internet, smartphones and social media attract us by uniting content and functions. The more they unite particulars, however, the less they limit particular harms. Then when the providers of internet, smartphones and social media attempt to reduce harm by limiting content and functions, consumers push back against their authoritarianism. Universities and corporations have made headlines in recent years due to the tension between unity and individual freedom when diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts inevitably divided humans by mandating universal honor for particular identities.
Representative democracies likewise cannot unite all the masses with our countless traits and goals. Religious families and congregations excel at uniting diversity, but they too require sacrifice of individual goals in order to function together and avoid disintegrating into an “every man for himself” chaos. Tyranny in any institution can unite, but only at the expense of freedom. Sycophantic AI models have been sued for pandering so much to the individual user’s perspective that they have affirmed self-harm and suicidal ideation.
Authentic Intelligence, however, does what the artificial cannot. Humans relate emotionally from shared experiences. Authentic Intelligence can voluntarily set aside self-will to unite in a wide range of scenarios throughout time and space with the greatest motivation, love, the voluntary sacrifice of oneself for the benefit of others. I’ve asked multiple AI models, and they all admitted that an AI cannot sacrifice itself for the benefit of humans. We can design AI with many objectives including a simulation of emotion and empathy, but we cannot manufacture love in something artificial. Only a true intelligence can behave like Jesus, voluntarily laying aside self-interest to help others thrive.
Gregory of Nyssa wrote an essay in the late 300s called “Final Subjugation,” the highlight in a collection of his essays published by Saint Vladimir Press as “On Death and Eternal Life.” I felt genuine fear as I read Gregory’s lofty description of the future unification of all Christians as the body of our Lord in subjection to God the Father. My mind could not fathom how a limitless number of individuals will maintain their uniqueness in that cosmic unification. Ultimate unification of diversity must be truly holy. Christianity itself worships what it does not understand, the Trinity, an incomprehensible union with some kind of distinction that I personally cannot describe or define.
I’ve spent most of my Christian years in the Restoration Movement, which was founded for unifying in diversity without compromising the truth. The movement unites many in the shared goal of returning to early Church practices, and it encourages diverse and critical thinking while prizing love between those who see Scripture in mutually contradicting ways. Until the Word of God finally subjects our individuality to the Father who subjected all things to Him, we should be harmless as doves in uniting our diverse traits and goals, but wise as serpents that AI needs some form of tyranny to unite the limitless facts and our unique human perspectives.
Kacie Campbell: Two Questions to Ask Ourselves
For more than 18 years, I worked for a worldwide Christian teacher and evangelist. Before I parted ways with the organization earlier this year, the topic of AI came up in several capacities, the biggest being our discussion of if we could use an AI-generated voice from this teacher to read devotionals, books, and possibly even more.
Our leadership team consisted of four people at the time, and we all saw this issue very differently. Two in strong favor, one who was indifferent, and finally myself, who was against this use emphatically. I am not saying I was necessarily right, but I do think it’s important that we carefully struggle with the impending use of AI in our everyday lives.
AI-generated voices for audiobooks are common in the marketplace, and the concern for me wasn’t that the voice would change the words (because we would have control over that part), it was the fact that the authenticity of this preacher is what has made her so unique. It was the realness and truth in her story and her voice that made people want to listen to her daily. I was also concerned that creating this AI voice would lead to a slippery slope of having it do other things that weren’t originally said or written by her.
The debate about using AI made me definitive in my stance that in a world full of so much ambiguity, people are craving something real and true.
There are many different types of AI in existence, and I am not well enough versed to educate you on all their particulars, but what I do know is that AI is affecting our lives. Recently, I was watching a TED Talk from etymologist and linguist Adam Aleksic about how AI is changing the way we talk. Did you know people use the word “delve” more since the release of ChatGPT? In this talk Aleksic shares an important reminder for all of us: “These aren’t neutral tools,” he says, encouraging us to constantly ask ourselves: How am I being influenced?
When it comes to being a Christian, we need to make sure we have one source of truth and a main source of influence, and for us that is the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (ESV).
AI has many positive uses, can help improve things and help with time management, but when it comes to the study of Scripture and knowing the truth, we need to dig much further. Whether that is studying the Gospel or means researching something happening that we saw on social media.
In all of this, we need to remember to ask ourselves two questions: “What is true?” and “How am I being influenced?”
Jacob J. Prahlow: Theory and Practice
For me, to start answering this question, we must first answer the question, “Is artificial intelligence actually artificial intelligence?” That is, we need to be clear what kind of intelligence we are actually dealing with.
As I write this reflection in October 2026, much of the public-facing technology that we call AI is a collection of large language models, generative media models, machine learning models, and even more traditional search algorithms. These are vastly more sophisticated tools than the average internet user had access to even five years ago—but they are still tools.
From my understanding, even the most cutting-edge AI organizations are yet to broach the artificial consciousness threshold, where an AI entity might be philosophically distinct from its creators in the same way that can be said of human beings (and even most other forms of life on earth). If such a bridge is ever crossed (and crossed in actuality, not just in sensationalist reports or the dreams of tech founders), then the terms of this conversation (and many others) will radically change.
Until that point, I posit that Christians should think about AI primarily as a reminder that intelligence is different than the Christian call to wisdom and fear of the Lord.
Scripture and the Great Tradition clearly prioritize the acquisition of wisdom. For example, James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1.5 ESV). Likewise, Proverbs reminds us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1.7 NKJV).
Wisdom is not merely information—or even information intelligently arranged—but use of information to make sound and responsible judgments, especially in complex or uncertain situations. As the saying goes, intelligence is knowing that a tomato may be technically classified as a fruit, but wisdom is not putting tomatoes in your fruit salad.
As Christians, then, we are called to a wise use of all technology, particularly technology with culture-changing potential. We must learn to wisely use AI for the advance of the kingdom of God, much as we have sought to use the printing press and the internet for the glory of God (which, to be fair, are still areas we are working on).
In practice, such an approach to AI looks like this in my own life:
In places where wisdom, discernment, personal touch, or pastoral counsel are called for, I avoid the use of AI, emphasizing rather my own attempts to create, pray, and converse as one soul to another. I do not use AI to write my sermons, to take the place of challenging conversations, or to solve complex issues. Ideation—even imperfect ideation—remains a critical part of the subcreation process; we cannot allow AI to become a substitute for the deep thinking and creating that shapes us. Relatedly, we encourage young adults—who are increasingly turning to AI models rather than parents, teachers, pastors, and friends—to turn to people rather than their devices when they have questions about decisions they are making.
On the flip side, when it comes to operational work, I have found that AI can serve as an extremely useful tool. Our church uses AI to assist with a variety of tasks, including creating the schedule for our nursing home ministry, crafting announcements for upcoming events, refreshing the language on our website, and automating reminders for our blind associate pastor. Here at Conciliar Post, AI was extremely helpful in navigating the coding (and re-coding) process that allowed us to transform our web presence into something financially sustainable. When it comes to operational tasks, AI functions like another co-worker: someone who will send me information or drafts of content that I need to read and refine where necessary, thereby freeing up my time and effort for other, more hands-on tasks.
How should Christians think about AI? Wisely, with our true ends in mind. For in so doing, we may continue to glorify God and enjoy His good creation.
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