Prophecy, Prediction, and the Tasks of Christian Ethics in a Technological Age

We live in a time where artificial intelligence-related futurism abounds and in which predictive technologies have real effects. I take up philosopher Carissa Véliz's critique of prophecy and prediction – as expressions of power and means of control – to ask how Christian ethics should respond to this challenge. Drawing on Ellen Davis and Sarah Musser's account of biblical prophecy, I canvas three responses: (1) eschewing prophecy for the sake of ethics, (2) redefining prophecy as social criticism, and (3) construing prophecy as interpretation. Each contributes something essential, but I find that Christian ethics cannot do without alternative imaginations of the future, not least because of the need to contest technological determinisms. Sketching a theological ‘anti-inevitabilism’, I explore how the prophetic task aims to foster agency. Yet the prophetic task doesn’t exhaust Christian ethics’ vocation in a technological age, and the final section places it alongside two others: the pastoral and the prudential.