Science, Technology, and Religious Belief: A Dialectical Discussion

Dear Colleagues,

More recent theological and philosophical reflections have long emphasized human uniqueness through multidimensional accounts of personhood, encompassing not only cognition and embodiment but also the spiritual, existential, and “heart-centered” dimensions that resist reduction to purely material processes. Theological traditions have historically strengthened these distinctions by grounding them in doctrines of the soul, divine creativity, and humanity’s special status in the cosmos, thereby reinforcing maps of meaning that set humans apart from other agents. Today, however, rapid developments in artificial intelligence force a renewed examination of whether these dimensions remain uniquely human, especially as AI systems increasingly imitate reasoning, creativity, and forms of relational responsiveness that once seemed spiritually exclusive. Contemporary theology now confronts questions about whether artificial systems could ever possess consciousness or spiritual status and how such possibilities challenge doctrines concerning the soul and humanity’s place in creation.

This raises a double dialectic: whether artificial minds could meaningfully participate in spiritual or heart-related dimensions of existence, and whether theological conceptions, such as the idea of a perfect or transcendent mind, are themselves unsettled by advancing technology. We, therefore, welcome contributions that explore how evolving technologies disrupt anthropocentric assumptions and invite new theological frameworks for understanding human uniqueness in relation to artificial agents.

We further welcome contributions that explore how emerging technologies compel a re-evaluation of the existential and affective dimensions long regarded as uniquely human, such as the awareness of mortality and the capacity for compassion amid suffering. Traditionally, these dimensions have unfolded within deeply relational frameworks, shaped by human–human encounters or by conversations with the divine, and theological reflection has reinforced their status as markers of radical human distinctiveness. However, as recent research shows, AI increasingly participates in cultural processes of meaning-making and transcendence, generating formations analogous to religion and reshaping how agency, emotion, and the sacred are imagined in technologically mediated contexts.

This development raises pressing questions about whether artificial agents might come to serve, symbolically or functionally, as partners in confronting finitude and seeking meaning, as well as whether such possibilities unsettle long-standing theological assumptions about the human vocation. We, thus, encourage submissions that investigate how technological mediation reconfigures these profound structures of self-understanding and what, if anything, remains irreducibly human within them.

We also welcome other contributions that explore problems within the scope of this Special Issue, “Science, Technology and Religious Belief: A Dialectical Discussion”.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Rethinking Human Dimensions (Body–Mind–Soul) in an Age of AI: Reframing Anthropocentrism;
• Technology and the Deep Structures of Human Experience;
• Religion and Environment;
• Theology and Science.

We request that interested authors, prior to submitting a manuscript, initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors, Prof. Dr. Marek Słomka (mslomka@kul.pl) and Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Gut (arkadiusz.gut@umk.pl), or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Evelyn Zeng (evelyn.zeng@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors to ensure that they fit the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

References:

In our research, we engage with contemporary theological and philosophical debates on religion, digitalization, and artificial intelligence, as well as the problem of the contemporary understanding of soul and mind. In particular, we respond to the challenges articulated in recent interdisciplinary scholarship examining how AI reshapes concepts of personhood, spirituality, ethics, and humanity’s place in creation. The following studies provide key reference points for our inquiry:

• Isetti, Giulia, Elisa Innerhofer, Harald Pechlaner, and Michael de Rachewiltz. 2020. Religion in the Age of Digitalization. New York: Routledge.
• Singler, Beth. 2025. Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction. Abingdon–New York: Routledge.
• Singler, Beth and Fraser N. Watts (eds.). 2025. The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Artificial Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Xu, Ximian. 2024. The Digitalised Image of God: Artificial Intelligence, Liturgy, and Ethics. New York: Routledge.
• Batt, Jason D. and Jonathan Erickson. 2025. Depth Psychology, Myth and Artificial Intelligence: Soul and the Machine. London: Palgrave Macmillan

Prof. Dr. Marek Słomka
Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Gut
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• theological anthropology
• artificial intelligence and spirituality
• mind–body dualism
• human uniqueness
• soul and personhood
• religion and environment
• theology and science
• technology and transcendence