Prelims

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DIGITAL THEOLOGY

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DIGITAL THEOLOGY: A COMPUTER SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

BY

ERKKI SUTINEN

University of Turku, Finland

ANTHONY-PAUL COOPER

Durham University, UK & University of Turku, Finland

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2021

© 2021 Erkki Sutinen and Anthony-Paul Cooper. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited. Illustrations © Tuuli Bell.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83982-535-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-534-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-536-1 (Epub)

Contents

List of Tables, Figures and Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Erkki compiled the text at the Future Technology Lab of the University of Turku in Windhoek, Namibia. He is thankful for the inspiring and encouraging discussions with his Namibian colleagues and students, and University of Turku for sending him to Africa to learn and understand the potential of the Global South, also in Digital Theology. The colleagues and students left behind in Finland tolerated his absence and delayed responses. Erkki is grateful for the support and love of his wife Päivi for opening up to new challenges, even when this required a remote marriage or commenting upon the draft of the book while ill in bed, and his grown-up children and the three granddaughters for their patience with a travelling father and grandfather. He dedicates his part of the book to his elderly mother Irmeli Sutinen, a teacher and a pastor, who always keeps on reminding him of the importance of writing books, especially those that have a mission and a message – hopefully this one has both.

Anthony-Paul would like to extend warm thanks to his parents, Wayne and Diane Cooper, and grandparents, Jack and Norma Holland, for their support and words of advice over the past few years spent exploring Digital Theology and investigating the applications of social media data to research questions within this emerging field.

Erkki and Anthony-Paul would also like to extend thanks to their various research partners and co-authors for the inspiration and assistance they have provided during that time – David Goodhew, Peter Phillips, Lorenzo Cantoni, Esko Kähkönen, Reijo E. Heinonen, Emmanuel Awuni Kolog, Joshua Mann, Ilkka Jormanainen, Tomi ‘bgt’ Suovuo, Samuli Laato, Eeva Nygren, Suvi Nenonen, Nicholas Pope, David Tjiharuka, Annastasia Shipepe, Jonas Kurlberg, Kauna Mufeti, and the late Timo Honkela. They are also very grateful to Tuuli Bell for the illustrations which she provided for this book.

Both authors are indebted to Professor Emeritus Jorma Tarhio for his insightful review and suggestions on the manuscript, and Dr Mikko Apiola for his comments.

Foreword

The Covid pandemic which began in early 2020 has changed our view of the world in many ways. It is a reminder of our vulnerability in the face of the natural world and a time of deep sadness for many people. But it also accelerated a change in the way that churches interact with the digital environment. Broadcasting of services on the web became the norm rather than the preserve of mega churches. Small groups no longer met over tea and biscuits in the living room of a house but over Zoom and the constant refrain of ‘you are on mute’. Pastoral conversations were offered by church leaders on digital platforms and the guardians of faith and order had to consider whether communion could be done online.

These questions of mission, liturgy, community and discipleship have been talked about for over a couple of decades by digital enthusiasts and by those who have been excluded from church life on grounds of accessibility. But for many in the church these questions were not seen to be central to our understanding of the mission of God in the world. Many were quick to skim the surface using the technology of the web to advertise the church coffee morning or to provide cheap broadcast videos to support various ministries. Few people took seriously the complex texture and potential of this digital space and what we could learn about human nature and agency. Only a small number of prophetic voices engaged with the theological questions of what we could say about God in all of this – where we could see in the Athens of the digital environment the presence of the ‘unknown God’ and ‘that the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands’ (Acts 17:23–24).

This would have been a prophetic book even if the pandemic had not happened. With the pandemic and the lessons we need to learn from it, the book has urgency and even more importance. Its authors take us through the emerging field of digital theology with passion and expertise. Indeed any emerging field needs this type of book to inform, guide, critique and point forward. They combine academic rigour with accessibility. But this is far from just an interesting read. It is an exciting manifesto for the digital theologian, the digital congregation and the Christian who wants to live the Lordship of Christ in everyday life which is now so digital.

It is essential that Christians, church leaders and church structures do not sleep walk or be catapulted into a very different world without identifying that God is already present and at work. However, we have got into it, the gift of the digital environment can and should be used for the glory of God.

David Wilkinson

St John's College, Durham University

June, 2021.