Cowden Hall’s Cornerstone Verse: Colossians 3:16
Artistic Theologian
Volume 12
Coming Summer 2025
Editor: Joshua A. Waggener
Dyer, John. From the Garden to the City: The Place of Technology in the Story of God. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2022. 237 pp. $18.99.
In From the Garden to the City, Dyer exhorts his readers to think deeply about technology with “godly wisdom developed in community” (13). He asserts that technology is a “good gift from God that plays a significant part in the biblical story … but has an embedded value system that transforms individuals and communities” (11). Dyer is not simply calling attention to technology’s influence but calling the reader to discern if that influence is shaping them in accordance with God’s will (209). In this second edition, Dyer has updated the text to include developments in artificial intelligence, smartphone ubiquity, and livestreaming and videoconferencing technology that exploded in use during the pandemic lockdowns.
In chapter 1, Dyer explores how the saturation of technology in people’s lives subtly alter their perspectives about life and technology itself. Because it is so common, technology is often not noticed, and its effects are not considered. Consequently, the influence of technology is underappreciated.
In chapter 2, Dyer explores how technology, as a tool, causes someone to be simultaneously apart of three “stories”: (1) how the world is shaped by technology, (2) how technology shapes the user, and (3) how the user views the world through technology (36). Building on concepts introduced by Marshall McLuhan, Dyer explains that the technology (the medium) used to deliver content influences the message. Technology mediates connection between people by allowing for connection across great physical space or by insulating them while being physically close. The mediated connection can drastically affect interaction (40–42).
In chapter 3, Dyer notes how God’s creation reveals purpose and plan. Each day was created in a pre-planned order with specific “content” to fill it—he did not create land animals before dry land. Likewise, humans, created in his image, are given “purpose and a proper place” (48). Adam was placed in a garden to make something of the world.
Dyer devotes chapter 4 to an etymological study of the word “technology.” Dating back to the ancient Greeks, technology was initially understood as the skill of making things. In the 1800s it was the study of the “mechanical arts.” By the end of the nineteenth century the word had further progressed from the tools used to make things to the thingsmade by these tools (64). Dyer then proposes that “technology is the human activity of using tools to transform God’s creation for practical purposes” (73).
In chapter 5, Dyer explains how Adam and Eve made clothes of fig leaves to show their “programming” as being created in God’s image. They took something from God’s creation and transformed it for practical purposes (78). Their clothing served a functional purpose, but also reflected new realities. This first technology simultaneously highlighted their being made in God’s image as well as the new spiritual reality. Technology (clothing) was used to lesson dependence on God (79).
Dyer explores views and different methods of how to examine technology in chapter 6. He encourages readers to consider how the “means” (technology used) accomplishes the “ends” (108). He cautions readers not to be fooled by either an “Instrumentalist” (humans are in complete control) or “Determinist” view (technology is the “driving force” of society outside of human control) but to respect that technology has “inherent values, and humans have choice and agency” (97).
Returning to Scripture, chapter 7 surveys how God uses and works against technology through three biblical narratives: Noah’s ark, the Tower of Babel, and giving of the law to Moses. During the time of the Exodus, written language was a freshly developed technology and was far from efficient. Because of the time-consuming process of writing, when someone says, “It is written,” they are “appealing to the authority of the medium” (121).
Chapter 8 continues to focus on communication. Dyer emphasizes that using a communication medium repeatedly not only shapes the way people think and behave but also differentiates them from people that use a different medium—in essence, they are of different cultures (136–37).
In chapter 9, Dyer draws attention to Jesus as culture maker, transformer, and technology user. After Jesus’s ascent into heaven, the church embraced technological developments of writing to spread and preserve the Gospel and other church documents (156). Ultimately, God will restore humanity that culminates in a new city—not a city founded and purposed for rebellion (159). Borrowing from McLuhan’s Laws of Media, Dyer proposes a system of theological evaluation that allows for considering a technology’s intentional and unintentional outcomes and their positive or negative effects: how a tool can be used for reflection (God as creator and man made in his image), rebellion (the potential to be used for sin), redemption, and restoration (165–67). In chapter 10, Dyer warns of the development of technology as savior in the transhuman and posthuman movements.
Finally, in chapter 11, Dyer explores the “virtualization” of many aspects of today’s culture. Much of people’s lives and activities now occur in the virtual space instead of physical. This progression was largely unnoticed until the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 highlighted the need many had for a physical, in-person connection (189).
In From the Garden to the City, Dyer endeavors to elucidate how Scripture, technology, and man (made in God’s image) intersect at multiple levels. He accomplishes his purpose by supplying readers with the tools for thoughtful reflection on technology. However, Dyer could have supplied more of his own evaluations of technologies—such as communication mediums (YouTube, Facebook), smartphones, and artificial intelligence—to help readers gain confidence in applying his evaluative approach. From the Garden to the City is an accessible, must-read introduction to technology and its influence for students at the collegiate and graduate levels.
