“Magnificent Humanity”: AI and Christian Witness
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Thoughts from Rev. Matt
“Magnificent Humanity”: AI and Christian Witness
Depending on where you get your news, you may have heard that earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV—the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and one of the most prominent voices among Christians of all varieties around the world—issued the first “encyclical” of his tenure as pope. An encyclical, in contemporary Roman Catholic use of the word, is basically a pastoral letter from the pope, meant to be circulated widely, and addressing an issue of the church’s doctrine or teaching on a particular matter.
A telling sign-of-the-times, this first encyclical from Leo XIV focuses largely on the topic of “A.I.”, artificial intelligence. Entitled Magnifica Humanitas, or “Magnificent Humanity,” the document articulates some perspectives related to AI that come out of our faith as Christians, especially around the matter of “preserving the human person in the age of artificial intelligence”. After all, who we are as people, and as humans collectively, is an important matter of faith from the very foundations.
Admittedly, Protestants have often tended not to pay a whole lot of attention to statements from the pope, or any number of other things coming out of the Roman Catholic tradition. This most recent encyclical, though, has attracted quite a lot of focus from across traditions and theological perspectives.
The Rev. Cameron Trimble, a clergy colleague of mine from the United Church of Christ in the US and the head of the progressive Christian consulting group called Convergence (and a consultant and speaker with whom even our own Pacific Mountain Regional Council of The United Church of Canada has done quite a bit of work), addresses some of the key points in Leo XIV’s encyclical that even leaders in progressive Protestant traditions like ours should be paying attention to. I’d argue that her thoughts aren’t just for “leaders” in the formal sense, though, but should probably interest any and all of us who try to walk as disciples of Jesus Christ from a progressive faith perspective.
A couple of key points related to AI that she highlights include:
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that this statement is the contemporary equivalent of the landmark encyclical on labour and capitalism from back in the 1890s, and the the timing was intentional; and
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that Leo is calling for AI to be “disarmed,” and he means it structurally, not just ethically.
But the Magnifica Humanitas encyclical touches on some other important matters of human personhood and human dignity, too. For instance,
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the statement declares the Catholic tradition’s so-called “just war” theory outdated, which is a major theological step for Christians of all stripes, since many/most mainline Protestant and evangelical traditions have held perspectives on war with similar foundations; and
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Leo XIV apologized for the Church’s role in the slave trade, and this apology is an important part of the document.
Perhaps most interestingly, Rev. Trimble concludes with an important observation—“Progressive Protestant churches have the right values, but they do not yet have the needed structure”—and goes on to say more about what she means by that. It’s a telling bit of self-reflection, herself being a progressive Protestant, especially in our times when many of us wonder whether and how our voice still has an impact.
Regardless of how much you’ve heard or read about this week’s encyclical, or how much you think you know about A.I., Rev. Trimble’s reflection—“Five Things Progressive Church Leaders Need to Know About Pope Leo’s AI Encyclical”—is worth your reading!