Acting creatively: Christian responsibility in technical innovation

In his lecture, Lukas Madl emphasised that technical innovation is not incompatible with Christian faith, but can rather be a calling to imitate God’s creative power. Using biblical images – from the command to cultivate the Garden of Eden to Noah’s Ark – he showed that technology has been entrusted to humans from the beginning as a tool for shaping and preserving creation. However, Madl warned against a disconnected, purely materialistic belief in progress, as seen in transhumanism, for example. He called for a rebalancing of the ‘four lights’ of knowledge – craftsmanship, scientific knowledge, philosophical reason and divine revelation. Christians are called upon to be salt and light in science and technology by bringing ethical orientation, wisdom and a holistic view of humanity to the landscape of innovation.