Postdigital research needs to steer a path between two extreme understandings of human agency; the deterministic and the instrumental. The first allows no scope for creative but critical human-nonhuman interactions and the second treats them as purely external with the digital as no more than another technology to be shaped rather than itself shaping the human. Two examples of these dynamics are examined. The first is that of the Metaverse as a current development of virtual reality and the second is the controversial area of robot rights. The aim is to highlight the problems of assuming a full presence and the danger of equating partial presence with a deficit or lack. As a counter to Chalmer’s book on the Metaverse, Esposito’s work is presented deploying the concepts of difference, determination, and opposition drawing on Deleuze to argue for an affirmative presence. In the realm of robot rights Darling’s suggestion that there are parallels between human-animal relationships and human-robot relationships reveals that empathy is essential for crossing these boundaries. Distributed agency is examined as a related alternative and then taken further to propose a more nuanced ontology drawing on the work of Bryant, Harman, and DeLanda to construct a more appropriate basis for human nonhuman relationships which avoids both the deterministic and the instrumental. As in debates about incarnation, both presence and absence are essential for understanding human agency.

‘New materialism’ develops the notion that all life, not just human life, is dynamic and vital: matter is always more than itself. The implications of this are not only political and philosophical, but also theological, in terms of how God is understood. This article, drawing on the work of Catherine Keller, suggests that contemporary theology should incorporate - as panentheism does - a sense of both proximity and magnitude, the relational and the ineffable, God’s entanglement with the processes of creation and yet God’s distinction from them. It argues that new materialism, strong on the relational aspect, needs to be complemented by the emphasis on distinction which the balance of panentheism maintains.

Most engagements between theology, religious practices and the digital have focussed upon the practicalities of these processes. Little attention has yet been paid to the possible impact of the postdigital upon actual beliefs, particularly about the nature of God. If it is the case that the postdigital defines the context in which we are now operating, then it seems that such questions need to be addressed. A number of different approaches to this issue will be examined, ranging from those which either see God and the digital as external to each other such as that of Pope Francis, to those which see no distinction between the two and where all aspects of human life are contained and encompassed within God’s activity in and through Creation. It will be argued that neither of these enables the critical approach to the postdigital that is required, not just because of the impacts of the digital upon belief itself, but also because of the power of the Big Tech companies which are now so dominant. A more nuanced interpretation of how God and Creation relate and interact will be presented, drawing on concepts from New Materialism and Relational Christian Realism, and the ideas of presence and absence, proximity and distance, which are to be mined from those sources.

Assuming there are two main possibilities of postdigital humans, either enhancements of existing humans employing the digital or entirely new forms of human emerging from a hybrid version of some sort, the question is that of whether it is possible to incorporate into either of these the imagination which helps us to place ourselves in the position of another such as to show empathy which does not rest on calculation. What is meant by this is that rather than responding on the basis of the expectation of a reciprocal act of kindness (I perform x hoping that another will respond by y), or to gain credit for the future, one responds (before further thought) because one feels called or obliged to do so. Given the speed at which algorithms operate, does that militate against such a development?

On 26 June 2021, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the UK government and the minister probably most closely associated with the response to the pandemic, resigns having been caught on camera failing to observe his own social distancing rules. An ironic illustration of Agamben’s telling summary of the pandemic times: ‘We are facing a paradox: the end of all social relations and political activity is presented as the exemplary form of civic participation.’ (Agamben 2021: 60). Hancock contravenes this new approach to civic participation by making the mistake of combining a social relationship with political activity and becomes another victim (albeit a painless one) of the pandemic. Agamben has written one of the most critical academic responses to the events of the last 18 months and raised concerns that some might find exaggerated. The context is his own nation of Italy, and the book consists of a series of short articles and interviews produced up until November 2020, so in advance of the roll out of the various vaccines across the world. Even so, many questions and uncertainties remain about where we are and what the future now holds. Whether or not one fully agrees with his interpretation, there is much here that demands attention. In common with Naomi Klein’s (2008) shock doctrine thesis, Agamben works on the principle that those in power will not allow a good crisis to go to waste, but rather will take the opportunity to press forward on practices and policies that match their political agenda. A new paradigm of governance is emerging, one that attempts to

This collectively written article explores postdigital relationships between science, philosophy, and religion within the continuum of enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment. Contributions are broadly classified within four sections related to academic fields of philosophy, theology, critical theory, and postdigital studies. The article reveals complex and nuanced relationships between various disciplinary perspectives, religions, and political positions, and points towards lot of commonalities between their views to the enchantment, disenchantment, re-enchantment continuum. Some commonly discussed questions include: Where do the mythical, mystical and spiritual end and the rational, objective and empirical begin? How do we find our bearings in the midst of this complexity and where do we search for resources that are trustworthy and reliable? While the article inevitably offers more questions than answers, a common thread between all contributions is the need for an open postdigital dialogue conducted in the spirit of mutual understanding and respect. It is with this conclusion that the article offers a possible route for further development of such dialogue in the future.

This paper explores ethical conundrums and virtual humans through building upon a post-Kantian framework, and one emerging from what is known as New Materialism. It begins by presenting the recent research and literature on virtual humans and suggesting that the central ethical conundrums that need to be examined are those of agency and values. The paper then argues that a combination of Luciano Floridi’s approach and one developed from New Materialism, namely modest ethics, offers a means of engaging with the ethical conundrums of virtual humans. It is argued that as yet there is little evidence for a democratic design process for virtual humans nor is there evidence about the possible impact virtual humans may have on a postdigital society. The paper concludes by suggesting that there need to be more open processes for debate which bring to light the values that are being built into these profound developments by the experts and focuses on using a modest ethics approach.

In its concern to evoke in its readership an appropriate response to the challenge posed by the contemporary environmental crisis, the recent papal encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home differentiates between the task of human education, on the one hand, and the deeper and more abstract task of motivating the human will for change and action, on the other. What must take place, it asserts, is the creation of nothing less than an ‘ecological citizenship’. To describe how this might be brought about, the encyclical employs the theological language of ‘conversion’. However, the rationale for this suggestion, and the implications it would entail for the way in which educational programmes on the environment might be pursued, is developed only minimally in the encyclical itself. The objective of this article is to take up and develop this hint by offering some philosophical and theological perspectives on the idea of human motivation towards care for the environment, and by exploring the current state of affairs in environmental education in light of it. The article therefore aims to develop the encyclical's brief and unthematized suggestion regarding an ‘ecological citizenship’ in a practical and applied direction.© 2018 Trustees for Roman Catholic Purposes Registered

Objective is to examine how ideas from Relational Christian Realism (RCR) can supplement and address potential weaknesses in current theological appropriations of New Materialism (NM). Issue of responses to environmental issues and the need to develop a new conceptuality. Initial focus on Deleuze and philosophy as inventing concepts. Deleuze as utilized by NM: matter-energy rather than matter as inert and passive further themes of flat ontology and difference, plus drawing on Simondon and his notion of metastability. Then examining how RCR draws on Deleuze, that is, to develop the notion of material religious practices and their rhizomatic structure; process rather than substance; a means of challenging the nature-culture divide; the contribution of assemblage theory. As with DeLanda, this approach is anti-essentialist and anti-determinist. How RCR then builds upon the work of Latour through his understanding of realism; truth as circulating references; the relationship between the human and the non-human; matters of concern rather than matters of fact. Links to RCR concept of entanglement. The chapter concludes with a summary of subsequent chapters.