Homebrewed Christianity

Four Questions About AI That Will Keep You Up at Night w/ Noreen Herzfeld | Theology Beer Camp 2025

Sep 27, 2025
In this thought-provoking discussion, Noreen Herzfeld, a scholar of science and religion, explores the intersection of AI and theology. She examines why we create AI in our own image and questions whether these machines might serve as modern surrogates for God. Herzfeld warns against the risks of digital idolatry, discussing the implications of grief bots and digital immortality. She also highlights the environmental concerns of AI's energy consumption, proposing that our technological advances may ultimately pose an existential threat.
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INSIGHT

Why We Build AI In Our Image

  • Noreen Herzfeld discovered the drive to make AI like us mirrors theological questions about being made in God's image.
  • She frames three classical meanings of 'image': reason, function, and relationship, and maps them to AI roles.
INSIGHT

Three Roles AI Fulfills

  • Herzfeld maps the three theological image meanings onto AI: intelligence, function, and relationship.
  • This shows AI ambitions are simultaneously about cognition, tools, and forming relationships.
INSIGHT

AI Fills a Spiritual Restlessness

  • Humans seek AI as tool, partner, or surrogate because we are hardwired for relationship and meaning.
  • Augustine explains this: our hearts remain restless until they rest in God, so we seek substitutes like AI.
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