From Imago Dei to Imago Digitalis: How AI and theology cohere in dialogue

Verbum et Ecclesia

 
 
Field Value
 
Title From Imago Dei to Imago Digitalis: How AI and theology cohere in dialogue
 
Creator Haq, Zia Ul
 
Subject Religious Studies, Theology, Epistemology artificial intelligence; theology; explanatory coherence; Imago Dei; algorithms
Description Critical traditionalists often consider artificial intelligence (AI) and theology rival paradigms, arguing that AI poses a threat to the conventional theological theory of intelligence, which reduces our cognition to that of machines. This article explores the possibility of a coherent dialogue between the two discourses, examining how they articulate a coherent understanding of intelligence through metaphorical frameworks. Three pairs of AI and theological metaphors were selected and comparatively analysed in the light of the seven principles of Paul Thagard’s model of explanatory coherence to examine the interrelationship of the metaphors in a systematic explanatory structure. The results show that these metaphors satisfy the Thagardian principles, forming a unified explanatory network in which AI and theology converge to illuminate the nature of intelligence.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article concludes that a new theo-tech anthropology can emerge when intelligence is interpreted as both structured rationality and objective teleology that operates entirely within divine wisdom and artificial reasoning.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor —
Date 2026-01-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Theoretical and Comparative Literary-Analytical Study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ve.v47i1.3707
 
Source Verbum et Ecclesia; Vol 47, No 1 (2026); 9 pages 2074-7705 1609-9982
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3707/9406 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3707/9407 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3707/9408 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3707/9409
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2026 Zia Ul Haq https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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