In the fall of 2025, Jeff taught an Adult Sunday school class on “Technology and Christian Formation.” Listed below are some book recommendations on this important subject..
We’ll break this up into three categories -
Books about tech from a Christian perspective.
Christian books that address tech more peripherally.
“Secular” books that help us think well about tech.
Let’s rock.
Books about Tech from a Christian Perspective
The Life We’re Looking For - Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World - Andy Crouch
Probably the best book a Christian can read on the subject - super thoughtful, gets to the heart of the matter, and gives actionable steps to take as individuals and churches.
Digital Liturgies - Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age - Samuel D. James
James writes deeply and prolifically about the interaction of technology and faith. In this book, he explains how the ways that we interact with technology are liturgical - repeated practices that shape and reinforce who we are becoming as human beings.
From the Garden to the City - The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology - John Dyer
Dyer brings us through a true Biblical theology of tech - considering “reflection, rebellion, redemption, and restoration.”
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You - Tony Reinke
Get ready to be stung a little bit if you read this one - Reinke is fairly tech-positive, but takes us through 12 malformative ways that our phones change us - including being addicted to distraction, the craving of approval, and so on. Convicting but helpful.
God, Technology and the Christian Life - Tony Reinke
A bit of a broader look at technology than his book on phones. Reinke articulates what tech is for, what its limits are, and how Christians can use it well.
A collection of 14 different authors come together to bring forward the ideas of Neil Postman (author of Amusing Ourselves to Death) for a new, digital era.
Following Jesus in a Digital Age - Jason Thacker
Thacker encourages us to towards four pursuits - wisdom in a digital age, truth in a post-truth age, responsibility in a curated age, and identity in a polarized age.
The Age of AI - Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity - Jason Thacker
Written in 2020, this might be a little bit behind the times in terms of AI advances, but Thacker does a good job of laying out different areas where AI will undoubtedly have an impact - self, medicine, family, work, war, data and privacy, and so on.
Analog Church - Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age - Jay Y. Kim
Hilariously debuting in March 2020 when churches were beginning to deal with the pandemic, Kim details the opportunity churches have to go analog, especially as it relates to worship, community, and Scripture.
Words for Conviviality - Media Technologies and Practices of Hope - Jeffrey Bilbro
One thing I learned as I prepped for this class was how much previous technologies caused many of the same issues that society and the church are dealing with in the digital age. Bilbro, a professor at Grove City, focuses on print culture, and ways we can read as a means of building our community.
Christian Books that Address Tech Peripherally
Platforms to Pillars - Trading the Burden of Performance for the Freedom of God’s Presence - Mark Sayers
Such a great book! Sayers, a pastor in Australia, looks at two contrasting ways to live - in our platform society (enabled by much of our tech) - striving to be noticed and recognized - or as pillars - supporting others and contributing to long-term institutional health.
Bulwarks of Unbelief - Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age - Joseph Minich
Minich discusses the factors that have made atheism a plausible alternative for our society as compared to generations past. His basic idea is that our technology has led us to this point - changing the world from something that fundamentally acts upon us to something that we act upon.
Edwards, a PCA pastor, writes in the vein of Tim Keller (The Reason for God). He draws on the work of Yuval Levin (see below) and considers the idea of “counterfeit institutions - how social media unmakes disciples, undermines churches, and unravels society.”
“Secular” Books that Help Us Think Well About Technology
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains - Nicholas Carr
Carr made a splash with an article entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid” in 2008. This book expands on that article, showing how our addiction to technology actually rewires our brains and makes us less capable of deep thought. This book really impacted me. If you think the Internet is simply a neutral tool, think again!
Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart - Nicholas Carr
Carr’s follow-up zooms in on technologies that connect us - yes, social media, etc. - but what I appreciated about this book was Carr’s historical look at technologies like the telegraph and radio - and how there was so much optimism around these technologies, but many unintended consequences.
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other - Sherry Turkle
So many books that I read referenced this book by Turkle, which was written in 2011 - meaning that it is very early on in the social media era (there are a lot of quaint references to texting and teens using Facebook). A good book to help us consider what our tech is doing to our relationships.
Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology - Neil Postman
Postman is an incredibly important thinker who did most of his writing in the 1980s and 1990s. He is more tech-pessimistic than I am - but it’s good to consider his work. I didn’t find this book as strong as his more well-known Amusing Ourselves to Death, but still much food for thought.
Breaking the Social Media Prism - How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing - Chris Bail
The late Tim Keller recommended this book a few years ago. Bail discusses how social media platforms highlight extreme positions on the right and left and drive moderates out. He shows how our platforms therefore give us a distorted view of our fellow citizens. Really good.
The Coming Wave - AI, Power, and Our Future - Mustafa Suleyman
Suleyman is the CEO of Microsoft AI - he writes to warn us that AI is likely to bring massive disruption, and that we need to think through what it means to keep AI from dehumanizing us. Some interesting history as well regarding early attempts at artificial intelligence.
I know many in our church have already read this book - it’s very helpful. Haidt shows how parents have over-emphasized safety in many areas (playing outside, etc.) and yet have been incredibly reckless in handing our kids over to technology. Haidt’s work seems to be making headway as parents and even schools reconsider the appropriate level of technology for our children.
Levin writes with a passion for institutions (not necessarily the church, though he includes religious organizations) - he describes what our institutions are for, how they have been corrupted, and how they might be redeemed. His work is used by a few of the Christian books referenced above (specifically Edwards and Sayers).
Deep Work - Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Cal Newport
When it comes to the digital age, we should realize that the church has an opportunity to stand out - and so do people - Newport shows the value and goodness (and benefit) of giving ourselves to deep focus and concentration.
A Web of Our Own Making - The Nature of Digital Formation - Anton Barbra-Kay
A really helpful book about how our digital technologies shape and form us. Barbra-Kay notes how this happens in the background of our lives - so this book helps us to slow down and really consider what is happening to us.
The Uncontrollability of the World - Hartmut Rosa
Rosa, a German scholar, shows how the greatest driving force of the modern era is the drive towards control. However, the more we try to control the world, the less we actually experience it. Rosa says that, as humans, it’s important for us to experience something called resonance when we interact with the world around us. As someone who loves control, this book was helpful.