“You Shall Be Like God”: Technology from Sub-creation to Displacing the Creator

Part 1 – Intended to be Sub-creators, attempting to be Substitute Creators

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)

Without a doubt, our world is obsessed with technology.[1] Every online news outlet carries articles about technological advances with many even have whole sections devoted to technology. The advances over the last century are absolutely amazing. In fact, it has been observed that ordinary life has changed more since the American Civil War than it had changed from the dawn of history until the Civil War.

Today we control our climate – indoors at least. Thanks to improvements in heating, cooling and building, we now can live in parts of the world that were essentially inhabitable just a few centuries ago. We have large cities in places that could not sustain many people not too long ago, including Los Angeles, Pheonix, Las Vegas, and Edmonton.

Fighting the Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Another way to view how we look to technology is in terms of the biblical plagues on humanity due to sin. You could say that we are trying to push back against the horsemen of the apocalypse. Through our pursuits we are trying to stop disease, war, famine, and death.

We have had remarkable success regarding disease. Diseases that were once deadly are almost forgotten. Who of us worries about cholera, malaria, or the measles? Not all that long ago, many died of strep throat; however, with antibiotics, it is now little more than a nuisance.

For a while people hoped that communication and transportation advances would break down barriers and bring an end to war. Many thought that the First World War would be the end of war, but, obviously, that was not the case. In fact, much of our technology is developed for warfare. Still, there are those who think that we can bring about world peace through technological advancements.

We have, however, done much better against famine. Despite doomsday predictions of mass famines in the late 20th century, our farmers are producing more food than ever before, and those who do go hungry do so due to malfeasance, not the lack of food available in the world.

Finally, many are trying to find a way to get rid of death. Whether it be cryogenically freezing people to keep them alive until a cure can be found for their diseases or the radical forms of transhumanism that seek to upload an individual’s consciousness to computers, the goal is the same – to defeat death.

Despite these advances, there are also problems. Some have gone so far as to warn that we are destroying the planet and on the verge of catastrophe. Much of the same technology that helps Amazon get whatever you want to your door in a day or two is also helping the Communist Chinese Party track the movements of everyone in China.

Technology from the Perspective of Genesis

Is technology good or bad? Obviously, it is not as simple as that. In order for us to start coming to some better understandings, we need to look at some Biblical principles.

The first thing to note is that God created mankind to have a special role in the world. In Genesis 1:26, we are told “‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (All biblical quotes from the ESV). It is important to note that while mankind was given dominion, he was not given ownership. As Paul points out in 1 Cor 10:26: “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.”

This is where the biblical principle of stewardship comes in. A steward is a servant who is put in charge of his master’s property. Adam was given dominion, but as a steward to care for what is God’s and make it even more fruitful.

Genesis 2:15 gives us insight into what this entailed as God placed Adam into the Garden of Eden to “work it and keep it.” However, the Hebrew is much richer, as he is to לְעָבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשָׁמְרָֽהּ the ground. עבד (avad) means not only to till, but to serve the ground. Likewise, שׁמר (shamar) means to guard it. J.R.R. Tolkien describes this as sub-creation. He argues that as those who were created in the image of God, we can create things, in his case fictional worlds, not as our own independent creations but as creations under the Creator.[2]

As we know, in Genesis 3 Adam and Eve tried to take headship from God and claimed for themselves the one fruit that was forbidden. As a result, God pointed out that the ground was now cursed and, therefore, Adam’s stewardship would be a laborious toil. Note, however, that God did not take stewardship away, but explained it would no longer be an easy and joyful task.

The Tower of Babel illustrates how we tend to use technology not for God or even for healthy care of creation but to displace the creator.

C. S. Lewis, in his book That Hideous Strength applies this same issue to the modern world.

The title comes from David Lyndsay’s 1555 poem, Ane Dialog betuix Experience and ane Courteour in which he refers to the Tower of Babel as “The shadow of that hideous strength, Six miles and more it is of length.”[3] It is also helpful to know that in Middle Scottish, “Strength” refers to a castle or fortress.

The concern is that due to our sinfulness, the natural inclination is now to try to replace or displace God as the creator. Rather than submitting to God’s headship, we seek to go our own way. In this way, we attempt to move from sub-creators to substitute creators.

This is similar to, and an outgrowth of, the distinction between the magisterial and ministerial use of reason.[4] According to this distinction, God has given us our reason to be used to serve (minister) to Him and His Word. This means that when we study the Bible, the Bible should govern our thoughts. However, whenever someone tries to put their own thoughts and reason above God’s Word, then our reason has become the master. [5] My distinction between sub-creators and substitute creators could be considered the ministerial and magisterial forms of our ability to create things.

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[1] This is the first part of a paper. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 34^th Annual Theological Symposium, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, September 17, 2024.

[2] “Sub-Creation,” Tolkien Gateway, 23 August 2024, https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Sub-creation.

[3] David Naugle and admin, “The Devils in Our World,” Official Site | CSLewis.Com, 16 July 2016, https://www.cslewis.com/the-devils-in-our-world/.

[4] I would like to thank Kurt Rolland for making this helpful observation as feedback to my initial paper.

[5] Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics (St. Louis: Concordia, 1950), 1:196–200.