Godlike Power

What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of AI?

With all the hype and speculation around artificial intelligence, its most profound effects have yet to be revealed. The bigger question is not just what AI is doing to our jobs but to our souls—our relationships with God and one another.

In Godlike Power, Russell Haitch cuts through the noise to tell the story of three core developments:



- the push to humanize machines, drawing us into emotional bonds with AIs;

- the drive to mechanize people, rooted in Enlightenment reason and the Industrial Revolution; and

- how God became human, so that humans could become more like God—and how techno-religion proposes a rival path to divinity.



These three stories offer contrasting religious visions. Haitch argues we are now confronted with two rival paths to divinity, and we must choose the right one. Godlike Power argues that the third story—the Christian story of real people becoming like God—offers the timeless and hopeful vision we need, allowing us to journey into the age of AI on a path that leads to life.

AI is the latest chapter in humanity's Promethean quest for godlike power. But it is also a story about our perennial quest for intimacy. Even as AI technology rapidly changes, Haitch argues we need wisdom—something more than superintelligence—to attain the power and love we long for.

With Godlike Power, you can wisely examine AI through a theological lens, enabling you to engage thoughtfully and responsibly with how AI is reshaping our understanding of identity, truth, and what it means to be human.



Russell Haitch (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is professor of theology and human science at Bethany Theological Seminary. His books include Eyes of the Heart: Seeing God in an Age of Science and From Exorcism to Ecstasy: EightViews of Baptism.



Table of contents forthcoming