A-I

 

A-I or artificial Intelligence Is a new hot topic. It can write essays and term papers for students. Teachers have to learn new ways to get their students to think critically, not cheat on their writing and learn to be creative and not robots. Good teachers are already doing it.

Preachers can have A-I write whole sermons. Parishioners will soon learn how to spot canned sermons. Finding apt stories to illustrate sermon points on A-I are helpful. But personal stories and anecdotes that come from our hearts and souls are essential to good preaching. Maybe A-I can do that but sermons will become wooden and frozen. The danger is that bad preaching may be made worse.

Connecting the gospel of Jesus to the personal, psychological, social and political life   of people today is our task and responsibility. I believe wrestling with those issues must come from our inner lives, faith, intellect and daring. I do not think A-I can do that for us. The spirit comes through our struggles not an artificial intelligence.

Used carefully A-I can be a healthy helper. But it can’t do the whole job of sermon writing. We must put our whole being into our preaching.

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The danger of A-I sermons becomes greater.

Interim clergy and lay preachers often do not have to prepare sermons and may depend more and more on A-I.

Seminarians may use A-I in their sermon classes and preparation. Moving them away from the inner struggle.