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Pitkänen, Pekka M A 
ORCID: 0000-0003-0021-7579
(2018)
Humans and the fourth industrial revolution: Reading the world and the canonical word.
Canon and Culture, 12 (2).
pp. 5-44.
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Abstract
This essay will offer considerations for contextualising Christianity as a religion in the changing societal setting influenced and even driven by new technological developments in the early third millennium AD, especially as they relate to the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The essay will include an analysis of a variety of factors that contribute to the accompanying global environment, with select comments on Asia and Korea as part of it. The discussion starts by outlining the overall developmental trajectory of human societies in the context of world history since the move from hunting and gathering to agrarian societies and the beginning of civilization. In this connection, the role of developing societal structures, including states and empires, is of paramount significance to consider, with the fourth industrial revolution standing in a continuum of this development. The essay then points out how the canonical scriptures were written in the context of such social structures, even if the societies known to and experienced by the biblical authors were less advanced technologically than ones today. An outline of Christianity’s interaction with society especially in Christendom times and the move towards post-Christendom and its significance add to the considerations. The essay then moves towards formulating a set of practical oriented suggestions on how Christianity as a religion and individuals identifying with Christianity could best situate themselves within their societal contexts and interact with them in the contemporary world. On the whole, the essay argues in line with the position that, rooted in a careful interaction with the canonical writings, it is vital for Christians to fully deliberate on and seek to engage with the world at the global level in addition to addressing local issues. In this, striving for justice and equality with Jesus’s commandment of loving one’s neighbour as oneself at the forefront offers a key ethical principle and paradigmatic model of action, to be accompanied with critical analysis of past successes and failures and an openness towards innovation in the future.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Article Type: | Article |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Humans, Social Scientific Approaches, Ethical principles, contextualization, Hebrew Bible, New Testament |
| Related URLs: | |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BS The Bible H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts |
| Research Priority Areas: | Culture, Continuity, and Transformation |
| Depositing User: | Pekka Pitkanen |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Dec 2018 16:33 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Aug 2023 08:54 |
| URI: | https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6245 |
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