The future of the Christian Church after COVID-19.
My thoughts after interviewing Micah Redding
Yes, you definitely know the reason why Ask and Wonder is now an online show. I am happy and excited to bring these conversations to you, and hopefully, my guests and I will challenge your thoughts and worldview no matter where you are in the spectrum of belief or non-belief.
I am excited also, because I’ll be more open about my views and questions and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about them as well.
INTERVIEWING MICAH REDDING
Micah Redding is a person I admire, and it is not primarily because of us sharing a specific worldview (Christianity in this case) but overall, Micah is an incredibly open-minded person, who is willing to have conversations with anyone about anything.
This is a trait I admire in people so much. He is also a person who is not afraid of putting into question our Christian faith to see if it stands the scrutiny of rational thought and dialectic argument. I do that too (constantly) and the result of this is…richness, and a nurturing flexibility in thought: a deep faith, a multi-layered relationship with God, friends from all world views, an intense yearn for knowing and exploring more, etc.
He has in fact organized interfaith groups in Nashville for years (I remember myself going to some of them, being excited about participating, but frustrated because I couldn’t speak English well) and also he has put together two incredibly thoughtful Christian Transhumanist Association conferences, which were a total success full of ideas, people from different backgrounds and experts, from which I was highly enriched.
Transhumanism, “the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology” was an “interesting one” but has become a necessary one. Technology has invaded (almost unexpectedly?) our lives and is part of who we are today (at least at the societal and relational levels in our identity) and there is much to say about the morals, ethics and where all of this has the potential to go. Why isn’t Christianity thinking about this and being involved in this type of conversation? This is probably the question Micah has wondered the most about, and this is the same question that has pushed him to add the adjective “Christian” to the noun “Transhumanism”. What is the result of this?
Well, you will hear more about it during the interview, but let me say something I wholeheartedly agree with: the Christian Church needs to get involved with these conversations: NOW. There are theological implications for some of the views which might challenge a traditional view of what we understand as Christianity, but after getting somewhat acquainted with the history of the Church during the first 5 centuries (going into the 6th one now) I can tell you that what we understand about Christianity today wasn’t a fun, pleasant path to flexible doctrine as we see it today; with this, I am emphasizing the importance of continuing asking the hardest questions (lucky for us that we can take advantage of centuries of great thinkers helping us have a foundation for our understanding of faith and of course the Bible).
My last point is this: technology is part of the transformative potential human beings are capable of, and we need to be more adamant at approaching conversations about the future; however, in our search for our inner potential and transformative aspect within our human nature, we should never forget the foundation for all of it: God within us, our Father in Heaven, who loved us first.
As many Christians are saying today: thank God for technology!
I hope you enjoy my interview with Micah Redding.
Pedro R. García.
Founder of Ask and Wonder.