Summer Reads ~ Pastor Andrew

Joshua K. Smith, Robot Theology: Old Questions Through New Media

What is the relationship between artificial intelligence, robots, and theology? In an age where technological advances continue at rapid rates, Christians need to think through the implications of these technologies. At its core, artificial intelligence shows our eschatology and pushes the limits of our human boundaries. Idolatry, ethics, power, and responsibility all need to be considered so that our faith is rooted in God’s goodness and not in reactions out of fear or out of idolatrous attempts to control.

Daniel Nayeri, Everything Sad Is Untrue

This book, based off of the author’s life, is the recounting of Khosrou, an Iranian boy whose family is forced to flee Iran. Looking at his life now as a boy in Oklahoma, the stories of Daniel’s current experience facing spitballs on the bus and the criticisms of his smelly lunch stands in contrast with the long history he has received from his Iranian background of kings and powerful figures. Bouncing between Daniel’s life in Oklahoma and Iran, the story he tells traces a boy’s experience on what it’s like to live as you seek to understand what is good and true.

Vishal Mangalwadi, The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization

I heard Vishal Mangalwadi speak at a pastors’ conference in 2005. This Indian philosopher traces how the Bible became the framework for the social structures of the West over the past millennium. Examining politics, science, the university, technology, Mangalwadi looks at how the West was shaped by the Bible and examines the current threats to Western culture.