The Tools that B(l)ind: Technology and Religion
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Queensland University of Technology
Australia
Abstract
Technology is a new theology. Substantively, technology represents the culmination of human creation undergirded by reason, without reference to the supernatural. In that sense, technology is a kind of secular substitute for theology. Functionally, through its ubiquity and esoteric rules that govern our lives so comprehensively, technology echoes the binding nature of theology as a subset of religion (from religare, meaning ‘to rebind’). However, the binding nature of techno-secular theology produces biopolitical violence. In this article, I propose that recognition (‘re‑cognition’) of technology as techne, a tool to be used for good, rather than a religare, a binding, warrants a return to a theological framework to develop a more charitable community. This will facilitate the development and improvement of theology as a means of exploring mystery.
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Author Biography
Dr Alex Deagon is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology. His research focuses on jurisprudence, law and theology, and freedom of religion. His PhD, ‘Using Christian Theology and Philosophy to Construct a Jurisprudence of Truth’, received the Chancellor’s Medal for outstanding excellence. The PhD was subsequently published as a book in 2017: From Violence to Peace: Theology, Law and Community with Hart Publishing, Oxford. Alex has been published in prestigious national and international journals including Law, Culture and the Humanities, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, and the Melbourne University Law Review. Alex has been cited extensively by Parliamentary Committees and Inquiries on religious freedom, including in the proceedings of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and teaches in Theories of Law, Constitutional Law, and Evidence.
