Logos-Like Machines: The Christian Case for AI

The sudden advent of AI has been attended by a good deal of hype and exaggeration, with some commentators heralding an imminent utopia and others warning of an impending apocalypse. Although neither extreme is likely to materialize, there is little doubt that the technology will revolutionize society in ways both anticipated and unforeseen. Perhaps more importantly, it will invite—and already has invited—serious conversation about man’s nature and destiny.

One topic of special interest for the faithful will be how—whether?—AI fits into the Christian account of reality. Here, I will suggest that the doctrine of Christianity should lead us not only to expect the emergence of AI but also to receive it as a positive development—in theory, at least.

Christianity offers a theological anthropology, a concept of man framed and informed by his identity as the divine image-bearer. This divine likeness consists not merely in man’s possession of a rational soul but also in his manifestation of the faculties of intelligence and freedom native to that spiritual principle. Within the mind of man shines the Logos, and he is charged with showing forth its splendor by governing and cultivating the cosmos, thereby manifesting in the visible realm the invisible glories of the Creator.

Man is, in brief, the icon of God, placed within the world-temple to incarnate the divine wisdom, power, and goodness. This vocation was fulfilled by Christ, but it is participatively realized by all men to some extent.

Given man’s divine likeness and calling, it is unsurprising that he should peer into and harness the elements of the universe, exhibiting a most marvelous creativity and developing all manner of arts and crafts. Being the offspring of the Creator, man is, himself, creative; and his handiworks include technologies that reflect, augment, and supplement nature (as, for instance, the camera in a way mimics and magnifies the organ of sight).

Among the most noble of God’s creations is the human intellect, the mirror of Logos. For ages, man has labored to invent some imitation of this divine work. He has sought again and again to objectify, externalize, and instrumentalize its luminous powers. And now, with AI, he evidently has managed to achieve a superficially convincing imitation of the genuine article.

Some Christians will view this imitation as an act of impiety and blasphemy, an affront to God. This perspective is understandable, even commendable—for, very often, the genius of man is motivated by that self-exalting pride that doomed our race in the first place. Wherefore sacred Scripture regards human science with deliberate ambivalence. Not randomly did the inspired author trace metallurgy to Cain’s seed (Genesis 4:22). 

Moreover, many of the inventors and champions of AI appear to be under the spell of the transhumanist project, an enterprise fatally infected with diabolical ambition. Given the pervasive influence of sin, who can deny that AI will frequently be turned to evil purposes, acting as a fountain of novel afflictions and hitherto unknown perversions?

Nevertheless, if we reflect on the issue serenely, we are given to see that—by contriving to model his own intelligence—man renders a kind of homage not to himself but to his Creator, whose likeness he bears. He further advances the cause of anthropic dominion by capturing and diffusing faint glimmers of the divine spark which he, peculiar among visible creatures, holds in the depths of his being.

Of course, it is absolutely necessary that we should “ground [AI] within a higher vocation” (Magnifica Humanitas 129): specifically, the biblically-warranted human vocation of God-presencing and God-manifesting. Consequently, Christians of expert training and broad learning—Christians firmly established in the fundamentals of holy religion and conversant in the classical sources of philosophy and theology—must contribute to the maturation of this technology so that it can be deployed to the advantage of the Gospel.

To use the parlance of the field, AI must be “aligned” to Christianity—not for its sake but for ours. Insofar as it is not thusly aligned, it will not be a satisfactory rendering of human intelligence, which is intrinsically bent toward—and susceptible to—the radiance of the Logos. It is incumbent upon the Church to inaugurate this “mission” with zeal and expedition, joining thereto an energetic evangelical effort aimed at Silicon Valley and other hubs of high technology, where insidious forces promulgate the transhumanist counter-gospel, which would direct AI unto abominable ends.

Man has wondrously succeeded in eliciting from matter the semblance of intelligence (the semblance, note well). It is fitting—startling and hazardous but fitting. For man is, we might say, embodied Logos, and whatever he touches, he makes Logos-like. There is no “ghost” in the machine—on this point we must not be fooled, like our superstitious contemporaries. But there is derivative brightness of the human mind, brightness that testifies to man’s lofty estate and redounds to the glory of the One whose image he uniquely bears.