The God Who Dwarfs Big Tech
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Well, this week is exciting for me.
00:00:05.840 | It's the scheduled launch week for my new book,
00:00:08.720 | God, Technology, and a Christian Life.
00:00:11.880 | I've been wanting to write this and publish this book
00:00:14.160 | for several years now.
00:00:15.740 | It's a dream of mine.
00:00:17.080 | Back when I wrote my book,
00:00:19.240 | 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You,
00:00:21.320 | it proved to be a book that was harder to write
00:00:23.600 | than I expected.
00:00:24.440 | It was harder to write because I couldn't find
00:00:26.760 | a baseline theology of technology
00:00:29.960 | that would orient my thinking
00:00:31.480 | towards the smartphone specifically.
00:00:34.020 | I came to see that there's like a theological gap,
00:00:39.020 | a lacking foundation in how Christians think
00:00:41.880 | about modern day technology, digital technology,
00:00:45.960 | big tech, Silicon Valley, those things,
00:00:48.200 | and it surprised me.
00:00:49.720 | And without that foundation,
00:00:50.860 | I had to sort of build as much of it as I could myself.
00:00:53.880 | And so I wrote a little 10-page introduction
00:00:55.960 | in my smartphone book.
00:00:57.520 | I called it A Little Theology of Technology,
00:01:00.160 | and it was published there on pages 29 to 39
00:01:03.640 | of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.
00:01:05.880 | It's very little, 10 pages indeed,
00:01:07.900 | but I knew this little theology of technology
00:01:10.080 | would need to become a larger theology of technology.
00:01:13.680 | And I knew if I could pull this off,
00:01:15.040 | it would serve a real need in the church.
00:01:18.000 | In other words, we need to ask the question,
00:01:21.320 | what is God's relationship to big tech?
00:01:25.080 | What does he think of space travel, nuclear power,
00:01:29.320 | and the big agricultural innovations
00:01:31.360 | we depend on for our food every day?
00:01:33.560 | That's what I'm trying to figure out,
00:01:35.040 | because only once we can answer this question
00:01:37.720 | can we figure out our relationship to big tech.
00:01:42.020 | So I'm thrilled to announce that my theology of technology,
00:01:44.860 | my big theology of technology is written,
00:01:47.200 | it's done, it's printed, and it's out.
00:01:49.780 | Pastor John kindly took the time to read it,
00:01:52.280 | he liked it, and he wanted to use this Wednesday slot
00:01:54.960 | in the podcast to share his thoughts with you
00:01:57.680 | about my book, which is a little awkward for me
00:01:59.880 | as the host of this podcast, but it's super kind of him.
00:02:03.520 | Here's what he had to say.
00:02:05.760 | - If you can see me and hear me,
00:02:09.920 | you are among the most technologically advanced
00:02:14.200 | human beings in the history of the world.
00:02:17.980 | Yes, you are.
00:02:20.920 | And probably, like me, you take that for granted.
00:02:25.800 | And we'll be taking for granted very soon
00:02:28.480 | probably self-driving cars and artificial intelligence
00:02:32.640 | and robots and human genetic engineering,
00:02:37.640 | all of them as if they were just as normal as an iPhone.
00:02:42.220 | There are only a few people in the world
00:02:45.520 | who are asking the question,
00:02:47.720 | how does a big God relate to big technology?
00:02:52.720 | Especially Bible-saturated people, thoughtful people.
00:02:57.540 | Especially also, given the fact that the word big
00:03:02.460 | in big tech and big God are infinitely disproportionate,
00:03:07.460 | you may know the name Tony Reinke
00:03:11.920 | from being the host of Ask Pastor John,
00:03:15.820 | or you may know him as the author of
00:03:18.080 | "12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You."
00:03:21.440 | Tony has written a book called
00:03:24.480 | "God, Technology, and the Christian Life."
00:03:28.680 | It is a panoramic and penetrating book.
00:03:33.680 | I don't think there is a more sweeping treatment
00:03:38.760 | of technology so tethered to the infallible scriptures
00:03:44.160 | and therefore so realistic and so hopeful, hopeful.
00:03:49.160 | Tony's not anti-technology.
00:03:53.640 | He calls himself a tech optimist.
00:03:57.300 | In fact, he's glad he lives in the computer age.
00:04:01.940 | In fact, let me read to you a quote
00:04:03.980 | that was amazing to me.
00:04:06.580 | "Our safe jets, reliable cars, intelligent phones,
00:04:12.260 | medical options, household appliances,
00:04:15.420 | streaming video, digital music have upgraded each of us
00:04:20.420 | to a tech wealth beyond Rockefeller's wildest imagination.
00:04:27.100 | Nearly every middle-class American today is richer
00:04:34.980 | than was America's richest man a mere 100 years ago."
00:04:41.980 | But Tony's tech optimism doesn't flow from confidence
00:04:46.980 | in Elon Musk or artificial intelligence
00:04:54.020 | or human genetic engineering.
00:04:56.980 | It flows from the fact that in the Bible,
00:05:01.060 | Tony finds the reality of a sovereign, massive,
00:05:06.220 | glorious God of providence, infinite wisdom,
00:05:11.220 | infinite knowledge that simply dwarfs
00:05:15.580 | all the powers of big tech.
00:05:19.420 | That's what he finds, that's where his confidence comes from
00:05:23.980 | so that what happens when you read this book
00:05:26.900 | is that your theology is exposed.
00:05:30.340 | You discover whether or not your feelings and thinkings
00:05:36.340 | about the greatest technological marvels
00:05:41.140 | causes you to see God as vastly greater.
00:05:46.140 | Is your God big enough to make
00:05:49.780 | the greatest technological marvel
00:05:51.700 | look like a first grade arithmetic book or not?
00:05:55.700 | For me personally, reading this book
00:05:59.060 | was a worship experience
00:06:02.300 | because the bigger technology became,
00:06:05.740 | and Tony makes it big, the more beautiful Christ became.
00:06:10.740 | Tony says this, "The angels in heaven are not bowing down
00:06:15.900 | to the wonders of Silicon Valley.
00:06:20.820 | The angels in heaven are bowing down to the glories
00:06:25.540 | and the agonies of Jesus Christ."
00:06:29.020 | It was a worship experience,
00:06:31.100 | so my prayer is that that's what it will be for you
00:06:36.100 | when you read "God, Technology, and the Christian Life"
00:06:41.500 | by Tony Ranke.
00:06:43.140 | - Amen, amen, amen.
00:06:45.500 | That was my aim, a worship experience of the creator
00:06:49.780 | whose generosity adorns our tech-filled lives.
00:06:53.500 | My new book, "God, Technology, and the Christian Life"
00:06:56.980 | is now available at Amazon,
00:06:58.980 | and for a short time you can get it for 50% off
00:07:01.660 | from our friends at Westminster Bookstore.
00:07:04.180 | Go to wtsbooks.com, that's wtsbooks.com, for 50% off.
00:07:09.180 | I am your host, Tony Ranke, and we'll be back on Friday.
00:07:12.780 | Thanks for listening.
00:07:13.820 | (upbeat music)
00:07:16.400 | (upbeat music)
00:07:18.980 | [BLANK_AUDIO]