RE-ENCHANTING THE EARTH: WHY AI NEEDS RELIGION

Ilia Delio, OSF
Orbis Books, 8/2020, PAPERBACK
ISBN: 978-1-62698-382-3
$26

Ilia Delio is a Franciscan Sister, an interpreter of Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist, the C. Connelly Chair in Theology at Villanova University and the author of numerous books on the dilemma and the opportunities the divide between science and religion offers us in the 21st century. In her latest book, Re-Enchanting the Earth, Delio has updated her exploration of the subject with regard to AI (artificial intelligence). 

It is not a book for the casual reader, but a challenging experience for those who are searching for a way forward in their spiritual life that is not based on 19th and 20th century insights alone.

She is also not afraid to face the dangers it presents. She asks, “Do we have the courage to develop AI to harness the deepest energies of evolution?” (Page 225). And she states, “It is a time to awaken to a new second axial religion where super-intelligence can become super-love, not information, but transformation for a new future together.” (Page 225).

She is predicting a possible Second Axial Age Religion which incorporates our recent scientific knowledge with an evolving theology that is equally as exploratory and experimental as science. She sees the advance of the use of AI in today’s world as an opportunity for a re-enchanted planet.

Those of us, ordinary Christians, who are trying to make sense of where we are going at seemingly break neck speed, will find in Delio someone who is interpreting for us that onrushing situation. She is doing this not only in light of the Teilhard de Chardins of the recent past, but also in terms our present leap into the world of AI.

While the book often requires a background in the present state of science as well as theology, it offers a way forward for those concerned with our present ecological crisis and the kind of search for grounding present day theologians perplexed by today’s world of accelerating change find themselves involved with.

Reviewed by Jay Wright, St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville, FL