Ethics for a Digital Age: Kate Ott

Digital innovation has rapidly changed the landscape of sexual experience in the twenty-first century. Rules-based sexual ethics, subscribed to by many Christians, are unable to keep up with new developments and, more often than not, seem effective at little other than generating shame.

Progressive ethicist Kate Ott steps into this void with her recent book, Sex, Tech & Faith. It provides an expansive yet nuanced approach that prioritizes honesty and discernment over fear and judgment. Rather than producing a list of don'ts, Ott considers the possibilities alongside the potential harm in everything from the use of internet porn to the practice of online dating to human-robot intimacy.

With the aid of thought-provoking anecdotes and illuminating research, Ott invites readers to wrestle with the question of how to practice a just and flourishing sexuality in the digital age--and does so by drawing on core values of the Christian tradition

Kate Ott is Jerre L. and Mary Joy Stead Professor of Christian Social Ethics and director of the Stead Center for Ethics and Values, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She is also the author of Christian Ethics for a Digital Society and Sex + Faith: Talking with Your Child from Birth.