Part of my research has to do with online education and embodiment. While many Christian scholars focus on the pedagogical considerations of online education, few deal with the theological implications. For example, what happens to our understanding of the incarnation when theological learning happens via the Web? Regent College Professor, Craig Gay has given some thought to the intersection of technology and theology. While he doesn't specifically address online learning, he highlights some concerns about an unexamined embrace of technology and its affect on human embodiment. In his book, Modern Technology and the Human Future, Gay writes:
The incarnation of Jesus Christ is nothing if not a colossal endorsement of embodied human being, of the very walking, talking, eating, sleeping, working, loving way of being-in-the-world that we presently and ordinarily enjoy. And although we are to be clothed in immorality at the resurrection of the dead, we will even then be recognizably embodied. ... the Christian tradition has from time to time lost sight of the significance of human embodiment, but int he face of the dis-embodying bent of modern technology, there is clearly an urgent need now to remember it. (Gay, 153).
On the heels of our Easter resurrection celebrations Gay provides an important reminder of just how valuable the body is for Christian theology. Given the challenge of not being together bodily during the pandemic, and the increasing role of digital media in theological education and church ministry, I wonder if our understanding of embodiment is shifting in ways that should be leading us to pause and question how tech is changing us?
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