Mythos and Postdigital Theology: Beyond the Limits of Digitalization

Abstract

The effect of digital technologies on religion generally and Christian theology more particular is a topic attracting increasing interest. This article argues that the role of theology is to provide a counter to the tendencies of digitization. Digitization is understood as the division of knowledge into discrete units and valuing this division over models of knowledge that seek to connect and integrate human experiences. The article argues for the need for a postdigital theology that seeks to encounter transcendence in the spaces where human experience exceeds the limits of digitization. Methodologically, the article draws on the interdisciplinary field of postdigital theory. It finds that theology is a work of defracturing or reconnecting forms of human knowledge in weaving together a coherent narrative of human experience that provides hope for relationality in the midst of the destructive tendencies at play in the world. Such defracturing opens a space for an encounter with transcendence, understood in a broad sense that includes encountering the vastness of existence as well as the realm of potentiality from whence liberative hope is fostered. The openness to transcendence that comes from exceeding digitization allows for a theological interpretation of an encounter with the divine within that transcendence. The article then lays a potential framework for such a theological endeavor. This methodological framework is an approach to overcoming the divide between logos and mythos, holding scientific and artistic approaches as equally valid contributions to understanding reality in the production of a religious or theological narrative.