The purpose of this project is to explore the impact of artificial intelligence technology on the way people experience spirituality. This exploration requires understanding how people transform what they consider to be religious/spiritual information into religious/spiritual knowledge that they employ in their daily lives. This literature review provides the foundation of scholarly thought and research methodology to answer the central research question of this study:Scholars presented here will appear throughout this thesis as discussion partners. This chapter is organized into three major sections. First, there is a review of scholarship in religion and spirituality that highlights the thinking of religious studies scholars and theologians with a focus on relevancy to the United States and specifically, the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Scholars of note on religion/spirituality include Thomas Luckmann, Peter Berger and Milton Yinger who are credited with initiating the study of secularism in the United States. Yinger’s research is particularly interesting for this project both in terms of content (exploring “ultimate questions” of spirituality) and context (some of his research conducted in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.). The second section focuses on scholarship on technology and specifically, the nature of intelligence is explored with the help of Donald Carson, David Berlinski and Michael Denton. The thinking of these scholars represents doubt in the ability of machines to replicate human intelligence, but for different reasons. Yuval Harari and Stanislas Dehaene argue that human intelligence can be studied and ultimately codified someday. Harari and Dehaene are supported by some technologists such as Ray Kurzweil and Vernon Vinge and challenged by others such as John Horgan and Theodore Modis. The conversation then turns to the potential for AI to impact humans regardless of whether it is considered to have achieved or surpassed human intelligence. Here the work of David Gelernter, Christian Fuchs, Peter Ward and Yuval Harari is synthesized to help us understand how AI and information are perceived and acted upon and by individuals and religious groups. Because it is highly relevant to the demographics of the United States and consistent with my own religious upbringing, I sometimes contextualize scholarly discussion using Christian examples and perspectives bearing in mind that the present study includes scholarship and research participants from multiple faith backgrounds. At these points care is given to acknowledge this reflexivity and to resist the temptation to project one theological perspective onto another. Rather, a Christian perspective is often employed to describe a concept or phenomenon while I attempt to remain vigilantly curious and open to the wide variety of thinking and experiences that the research reveals. The third section of this literature review summarizes research projects whose methods and findings directly informed the methodology and design of the present study.

Literature Review

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发表日期：

2025年

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Shanen J. Boettcher

摘要

The purpose of this project is to explore the impact of artificial intelligence technology on the way people experience spirituality. This exploration requires understanding how people transform what they consider to be religious/spiritual information into religious/spiritual knowledge that they employ in their daily lives. This literature review provides the foundation of scholarly thought and research methodology to answer the central research question of this study:Scholars presented here will appear throughout this thesis as discussion partners. This chapter is organized into three major sections. First, there is a review of scholarship in religion and spirituality that highlights the thinking of religious studies scholars and theologians with a focus on relevancy to the United States and specifically, the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Scholars of note on religion/spirituality include Thomas Luckmann, Peter Berger and Milton Yinger who are credited with initiating the study of secularism in the United States. Yinger’s research is particularly interesting for this project both in terms of content (exploring “ultimate questions” of spirituality) and context (some of his research conducted in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.). The second section focuses on scholarship on technology and specifically, the nature of intelligence is explored with the help of Donald Carson, David Berlinski and Michael Denton. The thinking of these scholars represents doubt in the ability of machines to replicate human intelligence, but for different reasons. Yuval Harari and Stanislas Dehaene argue that human intelligence can be studied and ultimately codified someday. Harari and Dehaene are supported by some technologists such as Ray Kurzweil and Vernon Vinge and challenged by others such as John Horgan and Theodore Modis. The conversation then turns to the potential for AI to impact humans regardless of whether it is considered to have achieved or surpassed human intelligence. Here the work of David Gelernter, Christian Fuchs, Peter Ward and Yuval Harari is synthesized to help us understand how AI and information are perceived and acted upon and by individuals and religious groups. Because it is highly relevant to the demographics of the United States and consistent with my own religious upbringing, I sometimes contextualize scholarly discussion using Christian examples and perspectives bearing in mind that the present study includes scholarship and research participants from multiple faith backgrounds. At these points care is given to acknowledge this reflexivity and to resist the temptation to project one theological perspective onto another. Rather, a Christian perspective is often employed to describe a concept or phenomenon while I attempt to remain vigilantly curious and open to the wide variety of thinking and experiences that the research reveals. The third section of this literature review summarizes research projects whose methods and findings directly informed the methodology and design of the present study.