The Cyberdimension: A Political Theology of Cyberspace and Cybersecurity

In 2013 Edward Snowden released a trove of documents revealing the extent of government electronic surveillance. Since then we have been inundated with reports of vicious malware attacks election hacking data breaches potential cyberwars fights over Net Neutrality and fake internet news. Where once discussion of cyberspace was full of hope of incredible potential benefits for humanity and global connection it has become the domain of fear anxiety conflict and authoritarian impulses. As the cloud of the Net darkens into a storm are there insights from Christian theology about our online existence? Is the divine present in this phenomenon known as cyberspace? Is it a realm of fear or a realm of hope? In The Cyberdimension Eric Trozzo engages these questions seeking not only a theological means of speaking about cyberspace in its ambiguity but also how the spiritual dimension of life provokes resistance to the reduction of life to what can be calculated. Rather than focusing on the content available online he looks to the structure of cyberspace itself to find a chastened yet still expectant vision of divinity amidst the political economic and social forces at play in the cyber realm.