In this episode, I'm joined by two theologians who are asking important questions about technology—including AI: Noreen Herzfeld and Benjamin Chicka. You'll get to know them as our conversation unfolds, but a little context first.

This is actually a follow-up. The last time the three of us got together publicly was at Theology Beer Camp, and the response was overwhelming. There were so many questions we simply couldn't get to them all. So, we booked a second conversation to finish what we started. This is that conversation.

Noreen Herzfeld is Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and senior research associate with ZRS Koper. A theologian and computer scientist, she is the author of several books, including The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age and In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit.

Benjamin J. Chicka is Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Curry College in Milton, MA. He is a philosophical theologian whose work connects classical American pragmatism, process theology, and ground-of-being theology. Such bridge-building between supposedly incompatible positions reflects his conviction that intrareligious pluralism is as important as interreligious pluralism for the future of theology. He is the author of God The Created and Playing as Others.

Additional Links

Listen to the initial AI panel here.

Learn more about the 2026 Ellul society conference here.

Learn more about Theology Beer Camp 2026 here.

In this episode, I speak with Petre Maican, an Eastern Orthodox theologian who’s applying the richness of his faith tradition to questions about disability—not only to inspire important theological conversations, but also to change how Orthodox churches approach community and disability on the ground.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Petre’s serious about this work. He’s responsible for two—not one, but two!—books on the topic. The first is one he authored (The Aesthetics of Emotion, the other is one he edited (Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition).

Bio

Dr. Petre Maican is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He holds a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen, along with an M.Th. and B.Th. from the University of Bucharest in Romania. His academic career includes roles as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLouvain in Belgium. Dr. Maican has published extensively on ecumenism, ecclesiology, and disability theology. He is the author of Asceticism of Emotions: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to Inclusion and Deification and Modern Orthodox Theology: Introduction to Contemporary Debates, and editor of Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition.

Links

Asceticism of Emotions (book): https://www.amazon.ca/Asceticism-Emotions-Orthodox-Approach-Inclusion-ebook/dp/B0DYWJCLBD

Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition (edited book): https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/disability-in-the-greek-patristic-tradition-9781978717077/

Website: https://www.petremaican.org/

Instagram: @orthodoxdisabilitytheology

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Orthodox-Disability-Theology/61576371389072/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/orthodoxdisabilitytheology

The Mutant Socialists are back. We’re here to dig deeper into how we became bad leftists, David’s home, power, and appliance troubles, what it means to be mutant socialist, and what this has to do with living in a world on fire right now.

In fact, here’s a quote from something David said near the tail end of our conversation that struck me like a bolt of lightning as I was editing what you’re about hear:

We’re sort of on a knife’s edge. We don’t know what’s going to happen in Greenland. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the United States, whether that country gets torn apart by civil war or other sorts of conflicts—that’s happened before. People think of the United States and think it could never happen, but everything that can happen has and will happen in the United States. We go back through American history. These things that seem so extraordinary and impossible to us now are just written on page after page. - David Moscrop

We recorded this episode on January 29, 2026. So David’s reflections appear to be prophetic. Anything that can happen in the United States will happen, including joining forces with Israel to attack Iran.

And what will happen next?

I ask that question with a fair amount of fear. At the same time, I’m grateful that there are people like Jeff and David in the world to talk to, to make me feel less alone, and to have hope—despite all the dread-inducing things going on in our world—that there actually is something we—them, you, and I—can do that changes the world around us for the better.

I hope this conversation offers you a similar hope.

Bios

David's Book: Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones: https://gooselane.com/products/too-dumb-for-democracy

David's Substack: www.davidmoscrop.com

David's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/davidmoscrop.com

David's Twitter: @David_Moscrop

Jeff's Substack: https://substack.com/@jeffwheeldon

Jeff's blog: https://jeffwheeldon.ca/blog/

Jeff's publications: https://sociologyandchristianity.org/index.php/jsc/article/view/281