Towards a Theology of Software

For a long time now I have been very interested in developing a robust and substantial theology of work. But now I am also starting to think beyond that to what a theology of software would look like.

In the coming Spring I will be doing a 2 credit hr independent study with Dr. Payne, Assistant Professor of Theology and Ministry at Denver Seminary, on a theology of work as it relates to software. I’m very excited about the possibilities this holds. Part of the class will be helping Dr. Payne by putting together a preliminary curriculum for a new graduate level Theology of Work course (including an annotated bibliography of the top 50 books to read in that area) to be a future elective for the new MA Theology degree program that just started this year.

As part of the independent study I will be reading Work in the Spirit by Miroslav Volf and A Theology of Work: Work and the New Creation by Darrell Cosden.

I also need to find another work that either deals directly with technology and sofware, or applies philosophy/theology to technology and software somehow, but I am not sure what. One that I already have sitting on my shelf that I am considering is Technopoly by Neil Postman. I was very challenged by his Amusing Ourselves to Death, and would expect Technopoly to be a similar reading experience. However, what I read as the third book is still up in the air. Any suggestions?

My main interest is in integrating what I do professionally with my faith at all levels, and helping others do the same in their professions. I have been very interested in theology of work for a while now, which led (among other things) to several blog postings here late last year such as: Becoming a Missiological Software Developer, a sermon on “The Place God Calls You To” & People First – In Missions and in Business.

I searched Google for "Theology of software" and only one substantial posting by Daniel Azuma came up entitled What has Silicon Valley to do with Jerusalem? I was pleasantly surprised that at least one other christian in software was interested enough in reflecting theologically about their craft to write a blog posting on it.

Daniel emphasizes, rightly I think, the importance of software development (or engineering, as he refers to it – I will treat the terms as roughly synonymous for the purpose of this article) as primarily a human activity, particularly as it relates to recognizing and pursuing beauty, goodness and truth:

Software engineering is sometimes thought to go hand in hand with capitalism, but I would dispute that in the strongest terms. It is not an economic activity, but a human one; its goal is not to make a buck, but to make something beautiful. Engineers who try to behave otherwise will probably fail, and will definitely be miserable doing it.

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…all things, including software, are built for people, and it is the people who matter, not the software. The Creator, while visiting his first-century world, made an oft-quoted point about this, saying “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). If an engineering feat’s own self-perpetuation becomes the priority, be it a particular technique, or a particular product, even a particular business, it will invariably turn into a monster.

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The product will, in the end, eventually get thrown away, but the people, relationships, and community that arise from it will endure, and it is perhaps these things to which we ought to pay more attention.

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I have sketched these ideas in only the broadest terms, but I hope it is clear what I have learned– that software engineering, far from being the sheltered sandbox of bespectacled IT geeks with no life, is indeed a broad discipline, interconnected with all the varied disciplines of living.

His posting makes some great points and is a great place to start, but much more is needed. To illustrate what I mean, over 30 years ago Francis Shaeffer wrote Art and the Bible in an effort to lay out a biblical grounding for the role of artistic endeavor for Christians. I wonder, if someone were to write it, what would Software and the Bible look like?

Another thing I am hoping to do (in the longer term) is to build up a network of christian software professionals that are interested in reflecting in practical ways on what it means to be a christian in software and sharing those insights with each other in various ways (blogs, mailing list?, online publication, conferences?). I feel that for a long time now software development has been seen as the domain of the secular thinker and practitioner, and I want to see what can be done to equip christians (and the church) to deal with the challenges of living in the age of software.

“The end that we are to seek is the redemption of our world – the world that is truly ours and of which we are ourselves a part… Our role as Christians, as the people of the cross within that world, is precisely what Jesus said it was: to be salt, yeast, and light” – Douglas John Hall ^[*]

What will the redemption of the software part of the world look like, and how can we be a part of discerning that?

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^[*] T.M. Moore, Redeeming Pop Culture: A Kingdom Approach (Phillipburg: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2003), p. 107