Eric Gregory

[Luke Bretherton @WestLondonMan]

Terrific short summary video of the conference "Reimagining Humanism: Religious Humanisms as Frameworks for Building a Common Life in a Fractured World" held @ChCh_Oxford last week-it draws out the key questions and themes addressed
@OU_TheoReligion #humanism

[The McDonald Centre @McDonaldCentre]

A rich, energising & nourishing few days @ChCh_Oxford @UniofOxford for the "Reimagining Humanism: Religious Humanisms as Frameworks for Building a Common Life in a Fractured World" conference

[Eric Gregory @EricSeanGregory]

Looking forward to getting back to Oxford this week….

McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life Annual Conference 2026 | Reimagining Humanism | McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics & Public Life https://t.co/sbP0LYwOTX

[Philip Ziegler @pgziegler1]

Issue 39:1 of 'Studies in Christian Ethics' is out, with papers from the 2025 SSCE conference on 'Freedom and Christian Ethics', articles from a recent @McDonaldCentre event engaging the work of Joan Lockwood-O'Donovan:

https://t.co/8VlISsfL6C

[CTI @CTINQUIRY]

The celebration of Tom Gregg's inauguration as Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry begins today with a theological symposium featuring--among several speakers--Katherine Soderegger.

[CTI @CTINQUIRY]

On March 23, 2026, the Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) welcomed New York Times reporter Lauren Jackson as a featured guest in its ongoing colloquy series for the From Despair to Hope project’s residential cohort on Technology and Artificial Intelligence. Jackson—whose work spans religion, technology, and contemporary culture, and who also edits The Morning and hosts Believing for the Times—brought journalistic versatility, acuity, and empathy to a topic at the heart of CTI’s current inquiry: the spiritual implications of artificial intelligence (AI).

Jackson opened the discussion with an overview of AI-mediated spirituality, a rapidly expanding array of technologies that includes religious apps, digital devotional tools, and AI-driven chatbots offering spiritual counsel. Available at all hours and capable of responding with indefatigable patience, such systems provide unprecedented accessibility to religious knowledge and practice. And as these technologies’ astonishing popularity attests, they are already assuaging widespread yearnings. Moreover, many founders of religious apps and AI spiritual tools appear genuinely motivated by a desire to address spiritual hunger.

Nevertheless, Jackson cautioned that this success and sincerity do not eliminate the importance of critical scrutiny, since “meeting people where they are is not the same as leading them where they need to go.” For one thing, AI systems hallucinate, generating plausible but inaccurate or distorted content, often due to limitations or biases in their training data. For another, AI systems are often optimized to be affable and affirming, but religious and spiritual maturation frequently depends on guidance that challenges, corrects, or unsettles. Such AI sycophancy risks fostering entrenchment and delusion—even idolatry—rather than growth and wisdom. Finally, Jackson noted that AI-mediated spirituality may attenuate community. While religious traditions are typically constituted by shared practices, institutions, and relationships that provide spiritual formation and accountability, these technologies may encourage individualized and privatized religiosity.

Given this context, Jackson identified three areas where theology might play an especially important role in shaping the future of AI, not just as it mediates spirituality but generally. First, theology can contribute to the development of ethical guardrails for this new technology by offering normative frameworks capable of guiding the design, deployment, regulation, and use of AI. Second, theology can help articulate a robust account of human dignity. This will likely prove particularly pertinent as AI disrupts labor markets—including white-collar professions traditionally associated with identity and purpose—depersonalizes relationships and replaces human beings as the highest intelligence on the planet. Third, theology can provide doctrinally sophisticated, historically sensitive, and spiritually sound wisdom to correct AI-generated distortions in spiritual content.

Jackson concluded by acknowledging the pervasive pessimism that often surrounds contemporary discussions of AI. In response, she invoked a recent conversation with University of Virginia public theologian Charles Mathewes, who appealed to Augustine’s famous contention that “we are the times.” For Mathewes—and, Jackson suggested, for the present moment more broadly—this Augustinian insight is less a description than an exhortation. Accordingly, Jackson urged CTI’s scholars to marshal their distinctive expertise to help shape the future of AI in ways that nurture genuine human spirituality and flourishing.

[Heath Carter @heathwcarter]

In this new essay over @TheAtlantic I argue that it's time to retire the label "Christian nationalist" as a term of political combat: https://t.co/RNKW5IW3Dk

[The McDonald Centre @McDonaldCentre]

We are excited to announce our 2026 Summer Conference (11-13 June), titled 'Reimagining Humanism: Religious Humanisms as Frameworks for Building a Common Life in a Fractured World'!

Pre-register here: https://t.co/NYfBFnrZkU

[john milbank @johnmilbank3]

I’m grateful to the author of this truly reflective article for arguing that my ‘British’ version of postliberalism is more authentic than the American ones. It is difficult to dissent from his final sentence — but myself and associates are trying! @AdrianPabst1 @Phillip_Blond

[Eric Gregory @EricSeanGregory]

Looking forward to this lecture in Princeton today

[Eric Gregory @EricSeanGregory]

Looking forward to this timely conversation:
Politics and the Problem of Dirty Hands | Baylor in Washington | Baylor University https://t.co/SB06xzvyUu

[Providence Magazine @ProvMagazine]

80 years after the conclusion of WWII, Oliver O'Donovan reflects: Did Hitler ultimately win the war of ideas? Does the West still possess the fortitude to uphold international safeguards against tyranny?
https://t.co/H03PZsgIoe

[Makoto Fujimura @iamfujimura]

His interview of Fred Danback lead to one of my Refractions essays in the new @NavPress commemorative edition. RIP to a master interviewer.

“Bill Moyers, Presidential Aide and Veteran of Public TV, Dies at 91” https://t.co/KY9PhqSgzH via @NYTimes

[Peter J. Thuesen @peterjthuesen]

This is amazing!

[David Decosimo @DavidDecosimo]

You cannot have MLK without his theology. His non-violence was directly & essentially rooted in his faith in God as revealed in Christ, a personal & historically active God whose presence he claimed to mystically experience & union with whom he thought required non-violence.

[Matthew J. Milliner @millinerd]

I Kissed Evangelical Elitism Goodbye https://t.co/AguswEIG0M

[Peter J. Williams @DrPJWilliams]

A significant manuscript acquired by the @britishlibrary

In Cambridgeshire in the 13th century, Christians and Jews collaborated to make a Hebrew dictionary and interlinear.
https://t.co/4wEamRWf0h

[Aristotle Papanikolaou @atpapanik]

Free and open to the public!!!

[Luke Bretherton @WestLondonMan]

A short summary & highlights video of the @McDonaldCentre conference “Christian Humanism & the Black Atlantic” this past weekend - do check it out @Theosthinktank @OU_TheoReligion @UniofOxford

[Zena Hitz @zenahitz]

I've been arguing for years with my conservative friends that the deepest problems with universities are structural and systemic, not political. This is very strong evidence in my favor, imo.