Ecology and the Digital

In theological practice we rarely think explicitly about the conceptual or ethical relationships between digital and ecological fields. In this chapter I probe these two categories in light of their metaphorical complexity and argue that they are not just intertwined but that this kind of scholarly scrutiny also raises similar fundamental questions under each heading about how we characterize the task of theological and ethical reflection. I argue that this intersection is best illuminated if we take a postsecular approach, taking account of the meaning and significance of spiritual forces for everyday life, and by extension a porous theological anthropology that recognizes a wider range of creaturely agencies, including nonhuman and digital entities, challenging human exceptionalism and instrumental views of technology. I argue for theological ethics which can take account of our world as enchanted—a reawakening to the spiritual vitality of the world, including a respiritualization of the digital. Along with other authors in this volume, I propose that digital theology should move accounts of quantification and control to embrace practices of mediation, care, and spiritual discernment. We can best achieve this through a constructive theological engagement with the digital-ecological nexus that is attentive to enchantment, ethical ambiguity, and the potential for digital technologies to serve as sites of spiritual practice and transformation—both positive and negative.