(upbeat music) - Well, this week is exciting for me. It's the scheduled launch week for my new book, God, Technology, and a Christian Life. I've been wanting to write this and publish this book for several years now. It's a dream of mine. Back when I wrote my book, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, it proved to be a book that was harder to write than I expected.

It was harder to write because I couldn't find a baseline theology of technology that would orient my thinking towards the smartphone specifically. I came to see that there's like a theological gap, a lacking foundation in how Christians think about modern day technology, digital technology, big tech, Silicon Valley, those things, and it surprised me.

And without that foundation, I had to sort of build as much of it as I could myself. And so I wrote a little 10-page introduction in my smartphone book. I called it A Little Theology of Technology, and it was published there on pages 29 to 39 of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.

It's very little, 10 pages indeed, but I knew this little theology of technology would need to become a larger theology of technology. And I knew if I could pull this off, it would serve a real need in the church. In other words, we need to ask the question, what is God's relationship to big tech?

What does he think of space travel, nuclear power, and the big agricultural innovations we depend on for our food every day? That's what I'm trying to figure out, because only once we can answer this question can we figure out our relationship to big tech. So I'm thrilled to announce that my theology of technology, my big theology of technology is written, it's done, it's printed, and it's out.

Pastor John kindly took the time to read it, he liked it, and he wanted to use this Wednesday slot in the podcast to share his thoughts with you about my book, which is a little awkward for me as the host of this podcast, but it's super kind of him.

Here's what he had to say. - If you can see me and hear me, you are among the most technologically advanced human beings in the history of the world. Yes, you are. And probably, like me, you take that for granted. And we'll be taking for granted very soon probably self-driving cars and artificial intelligence and robots and human genetic engineering, all of them as if they were just as normal as an iPhone.

There are only a few people in the world who are asking the question, how does a big God relate to big technology? Especially Bible-saturated people, thoughtful people. Especially also, given the fact that the word big in big tech and big God are infinitely disproportionate, you may know the name Tony Reinke from being the host of Ask Pastor John, or you may know him as the author of "12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You." Tony has written a book called "God, Technology, and the Christian Life." It is a panoramic and penetrating book.

I don't think there is a more sweeping treatment of technology so tethered to the infallible scriptures and therefore so realistic and so hopeful, hopeful. Tony's not anti-technology. He calls himself a tech optimist. In fact, he's glad he lives in the computer age. In fact, let me read to you a quote that was amazing to me.

"Our safe jets, reliable cars, intelligent phones, medical options, household appliances, streaming video, digital music have upgraded each of us to a tech wealth beyond Rockefeller's wildest imagination. Nearly every middle-class American today is richer than was America's richest man a mere 100 years ago." But Tony's tech optimism doesn't flow from confidence in Elon Musk or artificial intelligence or human genetic engineering.

It flows from the fact that in the Bible, Tony finds the reality of a sovereign, massive, glorious God of providence, infinite wisdom, infinite knowledge that simply dwarfs all the powers of big tech. That's what he finds, that's where his confidence comes from so that what happens when you read this book is that your theology is exposed.

You discover whether or not your feelings and thinkings about the greatest technological marvels causes you to see God as vastly greater. Is your God big enough to make the greatest technological marvel look like a first grade arithmetic book or not? For me personally, reading this book was a worship experience because the bigger technology became, and Tony makes it big, the more beautiful Christ became.

Tony says this, "The angels in heaven are not bowing down to the wonders of Silicon Valley. The angels in heaven are bowing down to the glories and the agonies of Jesus Christ." It was a worship experience, so my prayer is that that's what it will be for you when you read "God, Technology, and the Christian Life" by Tony Ranke.

- Amen, amen, amen. That was my aim, a worship experience of the creator whose generosity adorns our tech-filled lives. My new book, "God, Technology, and the Christian Life" is now available at Amazon, and for a short time you can get it for 50% off from our friends at Westminster Bookstore.

Go to wtsbooks.com, that's wtsbooks.com, for 50% off. I am your host, Tony Ranke, and we'll be back on Friday. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)