the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College
Kieran Halloran, SJ is a Jesuit Scholastic completing his MDiv and STL degrees in the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College in May of this year. Prior to theology studies, Kieran studied international development as an undergrad at Georgetown University and later received an MA in philosophy at St. Louis University, focusing on ethics and the philosophy of technology. Currently, his research focuses mainly on questions of peacebuilding and reconciliation drawing on Miroslav Volf, Johann Baptist Metz, and Paul Ricoeur.
Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, has contributed greatly to the discussion on climate change and technology, particularly within Catholic Social Teaching. Through his encyclical, Francis proposes various methods to combat what he called the “technocratic paradigm” which has dominated economic and political life. However, in the years since the promulgation of this encyclical there has been little meaningful change to this paradigm. In order to understand the constraints faced by efforts to care for creation, this paper will place Laudato Si’ in conversation with Martin Heidegger’s essay, The Question Concerning Technology. In this essay, Heidegger poses deep philosophical and metaphysical questions about the nature of technology which influences the ways humanity understands and engages the world. This philosophical grounding offers a deeper understanding of just how human engagement with technology challenges generates a technological gestell, or enframing, which constrains our capacity to imagine and engage the world in creative and life-giving ways. While Pope Francis calls for an “integral ecology,” these efforts are often undermined by the often-unnoticed enframing of technology. In order to supplement Francis’ call to an integral ecology, this paper proposes that we “create beyond technology” by engaging in spiritual and artistic practices which provide moments where we can imagine and engage the world beyond the enframing of technology.