Overview

Religion and artificial intelligence are now deeply enmeshed in humanity's collective imagination, narratives, institutions, and aspirations. Their growing entanglement also runs counter to several dominant narratives that engage with long-standing historical discussions regarding the relationship between the 'sacred” and the 'secular' - technology and science. This Cambridge Companion explores the fields of Religion and AI comprehensively and provides an authoritative guide to their symbiotic relationship. It examines established topics, such as transhumanism, together with new and emerging fields, notably, computer simulations of religion. Specific chapters are devoted to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, while others demonstrate that entanglements between religion and AI are not always encapsulated through such a paradigm. Collectively, the volume addresses issues that AI raises for religions, and contributions that AI has made to religious studies, especially the conceptual and philosophical issues inherent in the concept of an intelligent machine, and social-cultural work on attitudes to AI and its impact on contemporary life. The diverse perspectives in this Companion demonstrate how all religions are now interacting with artificial intelligence.

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9781009013659

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Reviews

'I felt like the information was very accessible while providing framing on what I'm considering a new theological frontier.' Michael Dreoge, Drew University

Author Information

Beth Singler is the Assistant Professor in Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich. Her first book, Indigo Children: New Age Experimentation with Self and Science (2017) is the first ethnography of a New Age group who define their identity and spirituality in relation to their view of science. She is also the author of Religion and AI: Rejection, Adoption, Adaption. She is also a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion, an Associate Fellow of Homerton College, University of Cambridge, an Associate Professor at the Digital Society Initiative, UZH, and a member of the Human Augmentation Research Network. Her publications, interviews, and talks are available at bvlsingler.com. Fraser Watts is a former Senior Scientist at the UK Medical Research Council's Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge and has served as President of the British Psychological Society. Until retirement he was Reader in Theology and Science in the University of Cambridge, Director of the Psychology and Religion Research Group, and a Fellow of Queens' College. He has also been President of the International Society for Science and Religion, of which he is now Executive Secretary. He is also Visiting Professor in Psychology of Religion at the University of Lincoln.

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