The second edition of Christian Ethics for a Digital Society is in production and expected to be available for purchase in 2027.
The second edition links to ancillary materials for further study and teaching. I have collected materials that can enhance the engagement with this book like videos, podcasts, faith-based curriculum, and other web-based resources that reside in a digital format rather than analog text for ease of updating. Click here to find the resource page (coming soon).
Christian Ethics for a Digital Society examines how we live in an increasingly digital world. From sexting to hashtag activism like the #metoo movement, technology has entered both our private and public lives in a deep way. Christian Ethics for a Digital Society offers pragmatic wisdom on how to live thoughtfully today.
Purchase the book.
Check out reviews and endorsements.
Reviews
Christian Century, by David Gushee
U.S. Catholic magazine, by Emily Sanna
Foothills Presbytery, Book Review
by Rev. TJ Remaley (Associate Pastor St. Giles)
AFlame Ministry Radio Show, Book Interview with Kathleen Panning Christian Ethics for a Digital Society.
Ficatier, Antonin. “Book Review: Kate Ott, Christian Ethics for a Digital Society.” Studies in Christian Ethics 33, no. 1 (2020): 130–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946819883780d.
Jones, Jen. “Book Review: Kate M. Ott, Christian Ethics for a Digital Society.” Journal of Moral Theology 9, no.1 (2020): 249–250.
Esselink, Jack. “Book review of Christian Ethics for a Digital Society by Dr. Kate Ott” at AI Theoloog.
Recommendations
Kate Ott rethinks Christian moral meaning in the still new technological age from a digitally woke place. She sketches how algorithms can be a blessing and a curse, how hacking can be a positive force, and how the unforgetting nature of the Internet can influence experiences of forgiving. Excursus leaven the text with personal, practical reflections on how power dynamics in this newly emerging reality can either connect or silo, enhance life for a few or, if developed responsibly, enhance for all. from WATER: What we’re reading
Endorsements
“What difference does it make to engage digital technology as a Christian? Kate Ott invites us to think intentionally and creatively about the shaping effect our engagement with the ever-changing digital world has on our relationships and our community formation. Providing a new ethical language, she orients our reflection away from a rule-based approach toward a relational and imaginative approach, all while keeping context, community, and justice at the fore.”
— Xochitl Alvizo, California State University, Northridge
“Finally, a book about tech that treats Christians like real human beings. Kate Ott offers a sophisticated, critical, accessible primer on Internet cultures and their discontents. It is not another call for a prudish retreat from networks, nor a ploy to manipulate them for propagandistic ends. Rather, it invites faith to be a guide for creative and savvy participation in building a more just digital world.”
—Nathan Schneider, University of Colorado-Boulder
“So many theological responses to the digital age begin (and end) in moral hand-wringing about how much our world has changed, or in ‘how-tos’ designed to enable more tech-savvy ministers and lay leaders. Kate Ott offers us something else: a kind of moral grammar—or in her language, practices of moral ‘hacking’—to navigate our digital lives in embodied, incarnational ways. An improvisational book in the best of senses, this should be read by teachers, professors, students, parents, ministers, and anyone trying to think and act Christianly.”
— Kathryn Reklis, Fordham University