19/04/2024

Rainer Gotschalg Topological interferences of digital spaces.

Digital spaces possess their own cognition, which defines them, and their own linguistics through which this cognition is mediated. This gives rise to conditions under which every form of life and thought is situated within these spaces. In this sense, digitization is to be understood as a distinct, prefigurative context. This has implications for theological pursuits. It must even be fundamentally questioned whether the traditional, conventional theological model formations can sensibly be applied under the conditions of this context. What translation and transfer are theologically to accomplished in the transition into the digital space? How should a (theological) inculturation oriented toward this (still formal) challenge appear, and which elements for a digital - theological syncretism are relevant? Answers to these questions must be explored along the boundaries of the differentiated spaces.

For this purpose, an analysis of the original interplay between "language" and "space" is required in the sense of sociological symbolic theory to delineate the respective conditions of the analog and digital semiosphere (cf. Juri M. Lotman) in their differences and gradual transitions. In this manner, the digital space can be qualitatively described as a heterotopia (cf. Michel Foucault), revealing the closure and opening mechanisms of the specific meaning - differentiating cultural contexts. Within the framework of this methodology, (partial) conditions of possibility for digital theologies can be clarified, namely whether meaningful asking about God can (still) be made in the digital space and in what manner meaningful discourse about God can take place – if the necessary means of articulation are available. My contribution aims to unfold these cognitive, linguistic, and topological interferences as a theoretical element of digital theologies and integrate them into the conference's discourses.

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