Our ancestors saw the material world as alive, and they often personified nature. Today we claim to be realists. But in reality we are not paying attention to the symbols and myths hidden in technology. Beneath much of our talk about computers and the Internet, claims William A. Stahl, is an unacknowledged mysticism, an implicit religion. By not acknowledging this mysticism, we have become critically short of ethical and intellectual resources with which to understand and confront changes brought on by technology.

William A. Stahl is a professor of sociology at Luther College, University of Regina, who specializes not only in the sociology of religion but also in science, technology, and society, and who holds a degree in theology. He is a regional director for the Canadian Network on Science and Religion. Between 1989 and 1993 he was a senior researcher on an international, interdisciplinary team that developed a design model for computerizing the university system in India. His class on religion and the sciences won an award from the John Templeton Foundation’s Science and Religion Course Program

William A. Stahl's profile page

• Winner, Winner of the 1999 Saskatchewan Book Award for Scholarly Writing

We live in a technological society....the machine and the culture of technology are part of our daily lives. But do we have to worship them?

from the author's introduction

God and the Chip: Religion and Culture of Technology by William A. Stahl... uncovers the implicit religion of the computer and technology in a fascinating, interdisciplinary analysis. Stimulating for group and individual study.

Janet Silman, The United Church Observer