Toward a theological ethics of technology: An analysis in dialogue with Jacques Ellul, James Gustafson, and philosophy of technology

The general purpose of this dissertation is to construct an analytical framework for a theological ethics of technology. A theological ethics of technology is conceived here as an attempt to coherently and critically relate three base points: (1) fundamental theology, (2) social ethics, and (3) a critical assessment of technology. The point of departure for a theological ethics of technology is the critical assessment of technology.; In Part I, philosophy of technology is used to construct a broad-based, multifaceted, phenomenological model of "technology." Conceived in this broad sense, technology can be seen to exhibit three fundamental dimensions: (1) the Anthropological dimension, in which technology can be described as a mode of human activity--the extension or enhancement of human capacity or power by artificial means (technology-as-activity); (2) the Structural dimension, which involves the material and social artifacts inherently associated with this mode of activity (technology-as-artifact); and (3) the Ecological dimension, which encompasses the various ways the products and processes of technological activity order human life (technology-as-order). In the final chapter of Part I, a typology of fundamental theological-ethical interpretations of technology is sketched, establishing one of the types--the view that technology is a fundamentally ambivalent reality-- as the basis for an in-depth comparative study. This ambivalence is expressed anthropologically as a dialectic of limit and possibility in human being and conduct. It is expressed ecologically in the various aspects of ambivalent technological determinism.; Part II consists of a comparative study of two contemporary theological ethicists--Jacques Ellul and James Gustafson. The work of Ellul and Gustafson illustrates the purpose and substance of a theological ethics of technology. This comparative study delineates fundamental theological and ethical options for construing technology as an ambivalent phenomenon.; In Part III a vision for a theological ethics is sketched which would promote the maintenance and nurture of the dialectic of limit and possibility embodied in technology. The heart of this theological ethics of technology is a theory of moral agency and responsibility based on a notion of self-limiting participation, grounded on a notion of complex responsibility.