Date/Time
Date(s) - Fri 12 April
16:00 - 18:00
Abstract
In his Laudato Si’ (LS) (2015) and recently in Laudate Deum (LD), issued on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, 4 October 2023, Pope Francis has responded with evangelical fervour to the climate crisis. Influenced by his study of the theologian Romano Guardini, Francis judges the “technocratic paradigm” to be a key cause of this crisis: “It is ‘a certain way of understanding human life and activity [that] has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us.’ Deep down, it consists in thinking ‘as if reality, goodness, and truth automatically flow from technological and economic power as such.’ As a logical consequence, it then becomes easy ‘to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers, and experts in technology’” (LD, 20, citing LS at a number of points). While emphasising that “science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given human creativity” (LS 102), Francis makes a plea for guiding humanity’s technological powers by respect for creation, a “pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home” (LD 69). My paper will focus on Francis’ critique of the “technocratic paradigm” and ask how it can be countered by a discernment of technology’s role and purpose in a Christian ethical perspective.
Speaker
Robert Gascoigne is an emeritus professor of the School of Theology of Australian Catholic University. His background includes degrees in history, political philosophy, and theology. He is a past president of the Australian Catholic Theological Association and was Australian representative on the Asian regional committee of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church network (2012–2018). He is the author of a number of publications on Christian faith and contemporary society, including The Public Forum and Christian Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2001), Freedom and Purpose: An Introduction to Christian Ethics (Paulist Press, 2004), and The Church and Secularity: Two Stories of Liberal Society (Georgetown University Press, 2009. He recently contributed the chapter “Public Theology in Australia” to the T&T Clark Handbook of Public Theology (2022). He is particularly interested in the socio-political dimensions of Christian theological ethics.
Respondent
Anne Lanyon is a Sydney-based Community Educator. After 20 years with the Columbans, and 50 years a teacher, she retired as Deputy Director of the Columban Mission Institute and coordinator of its Centre for Peace, Ecology and Justice late in 2017, when the Institute closed. She is currently the volunteer coordinator of the Faith Ecology Network and the St Anthonys Kierans Creek Landcare Group in Sydney. She is a member of the Laudato Si’ NSW Network and a local bush carer near her home. She is passionate about education for a better world, is involved in a variety of peace, ecology, and justice groups, including on the board of Jubilee Australia Research Centre. Her qualifications are B. Ed. (Australian Catholic University); Grad. Dip. Min. (Sydney College of Divinity); MA Theol. (Sydney College of Divinity).
The SCD Theology Research Network (TRN) and ISCAST (Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology) are pleased to announce a new online seminar series: Religiously Human in a Techno-Scientific World: Theological, Missional, and Pastoral Perspectives.
The aim of the series is to encourage theological reflection about the increasing impact of science and technology on our conceptions of human existence.