In this episode, co-hosts Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob speak with Dr. Glenn Butner about the intersection of theology, economics, and moral formation. They discuss how markets function, the moral implications of economic systems, and the role of trust in transactions. The conversation emphasizes the need for Christians to engage thoughtfully with economic practices and the importance of understanding the complexities of market design. Butner's book, 'Work Out Your Salvation,' serves as a foundation for discussing how faith can inform economic behavior and moral formation.

Support WWJT on Patreon and receive a book! Must sign up before March 31st, 2025.

Buy Butner's book: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Out-Your-Salvation-Formation/dp/1506479413

Read Andrew's review: https://adfontesjournal.com/book-review/work-out-your-salvation-a-review/

Takeaways (AI Generated with Human Oversight):

• Markets are not just economic systems; they are technologies that shape our interactions and form who we are.
• Incentives can significantly alter behavior, sometimes in unexpected ways.
• Christian engagement with economics should be nuanced and informed by scripture.
• The church has a role in shaping economic practices and moral formation.
• A doctrine like Common Grace can help us make sense of how markets can form us in good ways.
• Understanding social sin is crucial in navigating market dynamics.
• Christians should analyze specific markets rather than endorse or condemn entire systems.
• Moral formation can occur outside the church through various societal interactions.
• Every individual has a responsibility to consider the ethical implications of their economic choices.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and We'll Send You A Book!

02:21 Understanding Markets and Moral Formation

06:46 The Impact of Incentives on Behavior

14:52 Theological Perspectives on Markets

23:32 Moral Formation in Secular Markets

28:02 Practical Takeaways?

40:47 Innovative Hiring Practices and Market Design

42:30 The Role of Markets in Social Justice

46:41 Moral Formation and Market Interaction

49:28 Conclusion and Reflections on Agency

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/YskwNchC

How do we navigate content creation in a digital age? We consider this today through the angle of institutions, like media organizations who are trying to spread good resources across varyingly helpful digital outlets.

Joining us is Caleb Wait. He is the Director of Content at Sola Media (the makers beyond multiple top Christian podcasts, including the White Horse Inn, Core Christianity, and Theo Global).

In Multiplying The Word we explore the whats, the whys, and the hows of digital marketing: living in the digital, but not of it.

Welcome to What Would Jesus Tech. A podcast devoted to imitating Jesus in a technological age. We believe deep thinking with biblical theology, courageous building of good technology, and rich reflection on what it means to be human. I am Andrew Noble, I am a Theology PhD Student with a background in AI, I'm joined by our two cohosts, Austin Gravely, Social Media Manager at The Gospel Coalition with a background in ministry and online marketing, and Joel Jacob, Principle Product Manager at Splunk with a background in Robotics, AI, and Engineering

Cohosted by Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

Technology, particularly AI, poses a threat to the necessity of humanity. We see this in students using AI to bypass learning, self-driving vehicles replacing human drivers, AI competing with medical diagnosticians, and tablets which aim to replace traditional teaching methods. The question isn't hypothetical – these developments are already challenging human roles in education, transportation, healthcare, and beyond.

We don't just need to respond. We need a vision. We need direction. We need a New Technology Agenda that values the human person, and there is no value in persons if they have no place in families.

A couple weeks ago, Brad Littlejohn, Clare Morell, and a team of others published A Future for the Family: A New Technology Agenda for the Right. It includes ten principles designed to serve the family.

Add your name: https://afutureforthefamily.org/

The Ten Principles (the original New Agenda as published in First Things).

In today's episode, Andrew and Joel discuss this "New Agenda," how Christians working in technology could adopt it, and a way forward for a kind of limited dynamic innovation in North America.

0:00 - Preamble

2:08 - Intro to Brad and Clare

4:06 - The Principles

8:00 - The Government Against Innovation? For it? How?

17:53 - Children, AI, and Limits

32:33 - "I want to see more dynamic innovation" - Brad

34:20 - Implicitly Christian; Common Sense Values

38:39 - Specific Recommendations?

Other links:

Human Nature Isn't Enough By Brad Littlejohn

The Tech Exit by Clare Morell

Clare Morell's Substack

Brad Littlejohn's Substack

EPPC.org

What Would Jesus Tech is a listener-supported podcast. Support us and receive various perks (some early access to episodes and a bonus mini-episode each month). https://www.patreon.com/WWJT

Today we kick off our new series: Multiplying The Word. We will explore the whats, the whys, and the hows of digital marketing: living in the digital, but not of it. We hope this podcast will help pastors, Christian organizations, and individual believers embrace principles and practices of digital marketing, based on our conversations with leading experts, to multiply the word in our digital world.

We believe you can use social media for good, to share Christian content, for the love of our neighbors and to the glory of God. But how? How can we reconcile all the harms of social media (such as the ways it sucks you into loops of anxiety-ridden dopamine loops) with using it for good?

To help us, we're joined again by Chris Martin. He's written multiple books on the harms of the social internet, and yet he's here to tell you there are ways to use it for good.

0:00 - Intro and Background

3:53 - What's Chris doing? Key insights from his books

10:45 - Reconcile dangerous social media with using it for good?

15:34 - How to build? Audio? Video? Strategies

26:10 - Just post loser

38:20 - Stewardship

53:20 - Navigating different platforms

1:07:40 - Engagement vs Content Engine

Join our Discord here!

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

In this episode, our two Canadian Christian hosts, Andrew Noble (with a background more in AI and SaaS) and Joel Jacob (with a background more in IoT and robotics), talk through Trump's recent announcements that are pro-AI, pro-crypto, and anti-Canada.

0:00 - Intro

1:26 - CES Trends (Glasses and Robotics & Generalized Tech)

4:30 - 500 Billion for AI

7:46 - Ethical & Environmental Concerns of Massively Scaling AI

14:40 - Canada's Place In All This

21:55 - Tech Oligarchy? Regulation?

Part Two is available for Patreon supporters, including:

27:25 - David Sacks, PayPal Mafia, and Cutting the Red Tape

33:59 - C.S. Lewis' N.I.C.E. Prediction, and How Should Christians Act?

Thanks for your support!

We'd love your feedback for future shows, episode feedback, potential guests, etc..

Reach out at whatwouldjesustech.com

A Christian theology of technology sees both the good and bad in technology; the ways it creates blessings and instills burdens. The Bible has plenty to say about technology. In fact, the bible says that humanity has a technological impulse that began when we were created and will continue into eternity.

To help us unpack Christian Technology Literacy 101, we're glad to be joined by Dr. Keith Plummer. He is the Yoda of Technology & Discipleship with the voice of Darth Vader.

Podcast thumbnail co-created with ChatGPT. (Yes, it's uncanny. We know.)

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show, visit whatwouldjesustech.com . To join our discord: https://discord.gg/HK2umKDd

AI Agents, Robotics, VR/AR, Crypto and more! While we don't discuss every potential technology shift that could happen in 2025 (Andrew regrets never mentioning self-driving cars and online sports betting), we do go through some of the expected changes that are coming to the world of technology, as well as how those shifts may impact Christians.

0:00 - Intro

2:29 - 2024 Predictions Recap

8:25 - Rise in AI Agents

13:28 - Increasing Tech Polarization

20:37 - Honey Scam and Changing Revenue Streams for Content Creators

24:48 - Crypto will Continue to Grow

34:03 - AGI gods by 2028

35:17 - Continued Growth in AR and VR Tech

41:57 - Impact of Haidt's Research/Book. Momentum in Anti Big Social Media Movement.

50:57 - Closing Thoughts

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/AhCyjHD8

Subscribe to Grandview Church's Thinking About It podcast going through the New City Catechism on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Support WWJT at https://www.patreon.com/WWJT

The digital age isn't that new, argues Jeff Bilbro in his latest book, Words for Conviviality: Media Technologies and Practices of Hope. In this episode of What Would Jesus Tech, we ask him about the book, its thesis, the value of metaphors, the potential pushback from Barba-Kay, how the printed word is not necessarily the more moral medium and more.

0:00 - Intro

5:15 - Print to Digital Thesis

13:30 - Media Metaphors

22:50 - Walking

31:21 - Is Digital Different?

36:09 - Not Nostalgia. Postman Was Wrong (sometimes).

42:57 - Conviviality, Friendship, and Podcasting

You can get a copy of Words For Conviviality, and potentially even a discount code, through Jeff's website here: https://jeffbilbro.com/books/words-for-conviviality/

You can join the WWJT Discord here (invite expires in seven days): https://discord.gg/mrA3W6Jm

WWJT is a listener-supported production. We'd love your support. Sign up here: https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/