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Chesterton Perspectives brings you:
The Wisdom of Technology: Why We Should Not Fear Our Gadgets
A conversation with Ryan O’Dowd, Old Testament Scholar, University of Liverpool (PhD), Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House
November 17th, 2025
7:30 pm EST in person at 111 The Knoll Rd or Zoom
Is technology really a threat to us? And might not the contrast between so-called “natural” and “human innovation” be not only misleading but wrong? Just try and name one thing you can do without technology! (Language is a technology, by the way).
Of course, today’s critics of technological development want to worry us. Tech isn’t neutral, we hear again and again. These devices are forming us into something less than human and destroying our life in community with one another. Even worse, large-language models are forming a world where the line between human and machines is increasingly indistinguishable.
Yet our modern technological developments have led us to forget that every ancient civilization has faced major technological disruptions of their own. And many of these cultures have left behind wisdom traditions that offer a fresh perspective and settle our worries. Join us in dialogue with the Rev. Dr. Ryan O’Dowd, an Old Testament scholar whose expertise is in wisdom traditions in the Ancient Near East, who will help us reflect on the wisdom of tech.
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Ryan O’Dowd; Old Testament Scholar, University of Liverpool (PhD), Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House
Ryan O’Dowd is the Pastor of Christ Church of Atlanta and Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House. Ryan started volunteering with Chesterton House in 2010 while serving on Air Force active duty at Cornell ROTC. He briefly served on the governing board before joining the staff in 2013. His academic research focuses on biblical wisdom and law and their intersection with Christian ethics. He has written several essays and book chapters as well as five books on topics related to biblical law and wisdom literature including “The Preacher’s Hebrew Commentary on Deuteronomy” (Hendrickson, 2024) and “Proverbs” (Zondervan, 2017). Ryan is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (1994), Reformed Theological Seminary, and the University of Liverpool (PhD). He and his wife, Amy, have three grown children and recently moved to Atlanta with their youngest daughter.
