Jason Thacker's Blog

Explainer: The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, IVF, and Christian ethics

A couple of weeks ago, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) healthcare system announced that it was pausing all in vitro fertilization (IVF) fertility treatments. This pause is due to the perceived fear of prosecution and lawsuits in light of the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, Feb. 16, stating that human beings in the embryonic stage have the same legal rights and protections as children who are born. On Thursday, March 7th, a new bill was signed into law that allowed IVF treatme...

Tribes, Trolls, and the Power of Technology

How the digital world is remaking our political order

Illustration by Mary Haasdyk Vooys

For more than a decade I have worked at the intersection of the two things we are told not to bring up at holiday gatherings: religion and politics. These topics often elicit visceral reactions—especially conversations about politics, which at times take on a religion-like fervor. But while these topics may sometimes be uncomfortable, both are vital to a functioning and flourishing society. And for the...

What is the proper role of ethics in the Christian life?

In 1876, German Lutheran theologian Christoph Ernst Luthardt eloquently illustrated the relationship between theology and ethics. He wrote, “God first loved us is the summary of Christian doctrine. We love Him is the summary of Christian morality.”1 The wedding of theology and ethics was later embraced by generations of theologians and ethicists, such as Protestant titans Herman Bavinck and Carl F. H. Henry, who rightly understood the primacy of both theology and ethics in the Christian life. Bu...

Does AI Threaten the Human Future?

Everyone’s been trying to get up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI) and its role in our society since the public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history, amassing over 1 million users by December 2022, 100 million by January, and over 200 million users as of August 2023.

Scholars and practitioners have been thinking for years about how these technologies are shaping us as human beings and altering our perception o...

Book Review: The Wolf in Their Pockets

In the last few years, a considerable shift has occurred in how we think about the role of social media in our lives.

We were once deluded by promises of rich online connections and access to more information than ever before, but most have realized that technology is not a neutral tool that will usher in a more utopian society. In truth, social media has always been a tool that shapes us in distinct ways, often toward self-promotion, tribalism, anxiety, and even our own versions of the truth...

Asking the Hard Questions About Our Faith and Our World

For this last installment of the book lists for my upcoming fall classes at Boyce College, we will focus on a class I have been teaching for a few years now and one of the first classes I taught. I really enjoy walking with students through some of the most important ideas that have shaped our world as we seek to understand what we believe, why we believe it, and why all of this matters in the Christian life. This course is designed to introduce major philosophical ideas as they connect with cul...

Pursuing the Good Life in Public

For part two of the book lists for my fall courses at Boyce College, we are turning to one of my favorite classes to teach: Religion in the Public Square. This is a required course for most majors at our college and one that I am deeply grateful to see as part of our core curriculum given the centrality of the public aspects of faith and the perennial questions of social order in the Christian life. The goal of this class can be summed up by saying that our desire is to equip students to see how...

Pursuing the Good Life Through Good Books

As many of you know, my family and I moved (back) to Louisville a few months ago for me to start a new role teaching philosophy and ethics at Boyce College and Southern Seminary. It has been a busy summer of work travel, house projects, course preparation, and settling in so far. With the fall semester right around the corner, I have been working much of the summer to develop two new courses and plan out what we will be reading together in the classroom. I am really looking forward to teaching w...

Southern Baptists address the ethics of AI

Last month in New Orleans, Southern Baptists passed a historic resolution on the ethics of artificial intelligence that I had the honor of helping to craft alongside a top notch resolutions committee. As part of my research role at ERLC, I served as an advisor to this year’s committee, helping them think through the various ethical and political aspects of the resolutions presented to the messengers. I am really proud of how the committee handled this resolution and extremely grateful for Southe...

Six Books to Help You Cultivate Wisdom about Technology

Over the last year, I have heard from a number of people, especially church leaders, asking about recommended resources to help them think wisely about the role of technology in our society. On the heels of the release of major generative AI systems like ChatGPT, the ongoing questions over kids’ online safety, and debates over nature and purpose of digital privacy, there are major questions that we need to prepare ourselves to think about in light of the Christian ethic.

Whether you are a ch...