Spirit in the Machine: Anglican Theology and the Emergence of AI-mediated Spirituality

This proposal explores the theological implications of AI-generated theological discourse within Christian traditions, specifically investigating how religious authority and spiritual meaning are constructed and negotiated in the age of large language models (LLMs). It begins with the foundational question: what makes a prayer or spiritual practice 'valid'? The paper contrasts traditions privileging authoritative liturgical texts, such as the Book of Common Prayer, with those emphasizing spontaneous personal prayer as genuine spiritual expressions. Into this classical debate steps a novel agent: the AI chatbot.

As our concrete example of this practice, we'll look at the AskCathy chatbot, an experiment developed by TryTank, a joint center of innovation at the Episcopal Church. AskCathy (an acronym for "Churchy Answers that Help You") was created to expand pastoral support, enhance theological education, and broaden spiritual formation opportunities among Episcopalians. Now in its second year, AskCathy incorporates an extensive database of denominationally authoritative theological and liturgical resources that encompass sermons, church legislation, hymnody, and theology. It has facilitated over 20,000 user interactions by March 2025, addressing questions such as "What does the Episcopal Church think about the war in Ukraine?", "What happens when God doesn't answer prayer?", "My mother is sick; how do I pray for her?", and "I'm leading a Lenten Bible study—what's a good prayer to begin with that people might not have heard before?" Utilizing the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) framework proposed by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass, this paper analyzes how users socially engage AskCathy, attributing empathetic, knowledgeable, and relational authority to it. From this perspective, CASA suggests that humans inherently treat computers as social entities, thereby implicitly recognizing AI-generated discourse as legitimately authoritative.

Having established the authoritative use of AskCathy as a theological source, this paper then draws from a practical theological methodology influenced by Don Browning, Elaine Graham, and others, to explore how praxis itself reflects, shapes, and informs theological convictions. Traditionally, theological reflection has privileged doctrine over practice - reiterating the Aristotelean preferencing of theory over practice. Practical theology inverts this hierarchy by arguing that practice itself reveals implicit theological commitments. As such, user interactions with AskCathy give rise to a crucial theological reflection at the heart of this project: what does our active engagement with AI chatbots convey about our implicit theology of technology? How might we theologically articulate the legitimacy of authoritative discourse generated algorithmically, rather than merely transmitted through other traditional media such as preaching, print, or television?

This paper explicitly situates itself within the Liberal Catholic Anglican theological tradition, tracing a lineage through Charles Gore's "Lux Mundi," William Temple’s incarnational theology, Rowan Williams' reflections on sacramentality, Kathryn Tanner's engagement with cultural studies, and Sarah Coakley’s emergent pneumatology. Anglicanism’s longstanding commitment to a via media uniquely equips it to positively engage social and technological innovations without compromising doctrinal coherence, exemplified historically through adaptations like Cranmer’s democratization of monastic prayer in the Book of Common Prayer and Jewel’s widespread dissemination of sermons via the printing press. Just as the printing press in the 15th and 16th centuries radically democratized access to Scripture and theological teaching, AI represents the next significant technological shift that could similarly democratize theological discourse and religious meaning making.

The paper proposes a new theological framework wherein technology is understood as an intrinsic element of creation, reflecting humanity’s creative vocation as beings made in God's image. From this perspective, technological innovations—including AI-generated spiritual discourse—can be recognized as appropriate, even unsurprising, spaces for the Spirit's dynamic activity as an agent of divine self-disclosure in the world. Anticipating possible objections regarding the authenticity of AI-generated discourse, the paper further appeals to Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic approach, where religious meaning dynamically emerges from interpretive interactions between readers and texts. This suggests theological legitimacy can be further appealed to on a hermeneutic-phenomenological level, noting that theological credibility can be recognized through one's experience with algorithmically generated discourse.

Ultimately, this exploration invites renewed engagement with fundamental theological questions of authority, tradition, and the Holy Spirit’s presence in the increasingly AI-mediated landscape of contemporary Christian practice, highlighting technology's potential not merely to extend but dynamically participate in generating new forms of theological knowledge and spiritual practice.