Kwok ’n’ Roll

Does AI need religion? Franciscan scientist-theologian Ilia Delio says yes — and responds to Pope Leo on AI.

Kwok Pui Lan interviews Ilia Delio on ai and religion, evolution, transhumanism, and what Pope Leo gets right — and misses — about safeguarding the human person.

Ilia Delio, OSF, is a Franciscan sister, former Chair at Villanova, Executive Director of the World Institute for Science, Religion, and Culture, and author of 20 books, including Re-enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion. Trained as a pharmacologist and historical theologian, she places AI inside cosmic history — from Teilhard de Chardin's noosphere to our future as natural-born cyborgs.

We discuss why Christianity must be reconstructed for evolution and complexity, the difference between a transhuman future built for power and a posthuman future built for wholeness, and how ordinary people of faith can stay human and connected in an AI age.

Books by Dr. Ilia Delio: Re-enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion and The Christian Mutation: Reclaiming the Dynamic God of Jesus.

How can Christian sexual ethics move past shame-based rules? We explore wisdom for navigating the digital age.

Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with ethicist Kate Ott about the impact of technology on our intimate lives. From the prevalence of dating apps to the challenges posed by virtual reality and deepfakes, many traditional faith communities struggle to provide guidance that fosters wisdom instead of shame.

Kate introduces a values-based alternative rooted in honesty, mutuality, and digital literacy. We discuss why a pleasure-positive perspective is essential for AI ethics and why the physical reality of embodiment still matters when our encounters are mediated by screens.

Kate Ott is Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Kate Ott's books: Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age; and

Christian Ethics for a Digital Society

Who rules China — and who decides what makes power legitimate? Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with Peng Yin, Assistant Professor of Ethics at Boston University School of Theology, on Chinese political theology after Xi's visit to Washington.

In this interview, we move beyond trade and security headlines from the Xi Jinping Trump meeting to ask a deeper question about US-China relations : how is political power justified? Peng Yin explains what Chinese political theology is, how it differs from American debates on Christian nationalism, and why legitimacy is at its center.

We discuss his work on Thomas Aquinas and early Chinese ethics, natural law from Aquinas to Montesquieu and early modern Chinese reformers, and the church in China. The conversation closes with faith between two empires — for diaspora Christians, students, and all who want to persist in the good.

Peng Yin's research focuses on comparative religious ethics, political theology, and Chinese thought. His recent book is Persisting in the Good: Thomas Aquinas and Early Chinese Ethics.

Why can't our schools teach us to flourish? Postcolonial theologian Kwok Pui Lan talks with Rev. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes about becoming good ancestors for the next generation.

Rev. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes is a Chicano theologian, writer, and Dean and Executive Vice President at Auburn Theological Seminary. His new book Pedagogy of the Ancestors: Practices for Mentoring and Teaching Future Generations (WJK Books, 2026) asks how we learn to live on ancestor time and at the speed of love. In this conversation, we talk about his journey from gang life to seminary leadership, the purpose gap facing youth of color, how oppressive systems sever us from lineage, and what mentorship, youth ministry, and discipleship look like when they center ancestors, storytelling, and rituals for belonging.

Whether you are a pastor, teacher,  mentor, or caregiver, you will leave with one practice you can try this week to help young people flourish — not just achieve.

New book — Pedagogy of the Ancestors

Patrick B. Reyes 's website.

Is Christian Zionism a heresy? South African theologian Dr. Thandi Gamedze explains what Kairos means from Soweto to Gaza.

In this Faithful Provocations conversation, I talk with Dr. Thandi Gamedze, Senior Researcher of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape, about the connection between Kairos South Africa and Kairos Palestine. We discuss why South African Christians called occupation apartheid, how Palestinian Christians mirrored the 1985 Kairos method in 2009, and what her analytical mapping of Christian Zionism in South Africa reveals for the global church today.

Dr. Gamedze is a contributor to my new edited volume The Anglican Church and Palestine (September 2026). If you want to understand Black theology, prophetic theology vs. state theology, and why the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has spoken most clearly for Palestine, start here.

In this episode:

Why 1985 Kairos was so dangerous to apartheid

What Kairos Palestine borrowed — and where it went further

How Christian Zionism is growing in South Africa today What global Anglicans are called to do now

Link to The Anglican Church and Palestine