Digital Methods in Theology

Digital theology: Mapping out theological discourse formations using "suicide" as an example

In 2022, with the support of the University of Passau, we launched a joint project that aims to use AI to examine theological discourses in terms of their argumentation and thus open up a research direction linked to cultural studies.

In argument mining, there has been an upsurge in the mapping of knowledge and lines of reasoning, see for instance IBM's Project Debater. So far, these maps are chiefly synchronic representations, meaning they focus on depicting information and their argumentative relations at one specific point in time. For example: common practice has it that momentary internet debates or TV shows are examined for their arguments and mapped out.

We are interested in a different area: we are interested in depicting the way knowledge emerges over a longer period of time in specific argumentation cultures, for example in the handling of academic questions and the surrounding discussion.

In our project, we propose using diachronic argument mining, meaning we suggest drawing a map that analyses the argumentative processes in theological discourse structures over time and, more specifically, visualises any revisiting and transformation of parts of the argumentation.

Through several computer-linguistic levels of analysis, the argumentation graph will not only be able to depict the itinerary of the discourse in time but also at the relevant linguistic levels; as a result, the argumentative structures will be attributable to linguistic ones. Theoretical cultural-scientific and linguistic expert knowledge will be taken into account early on when developing the computer-linguistic methods. Sentiment analysis clearly showed, for instance, that the lexical term "passion" has strong negative connotations on account of its close relation to sin in the Catholic Enlightenment and in ultramontanism, whereas it has rather positive connotations in contemporary discussions and present-day computer-linguistic methods.

In our pilot project "The Catholic debate on suicide between 1800 and today", we will be taking a diachronic perspective of the Catholic discourse on suicide and explore how it has changed over time. In particular, we will be concentrating on the arguments emerging in the piety discourses of the late Catholic Enlightenment (1800-1840) and ultramontanism (1840-1930) and juxtaposition them with the related discussion in 21st century moral theology. The basis to this is an understanding of the cultural-scientific discourse that posits Catholic-theological arguments as part of the changing identity-specific self-understanding of a reference group. We will be examining the compass of Catholic-theological discourse against the backcloth of evolving conditions in the passage from (pre)modernity to postmodernity as a space of communicative rationality existing at a given point in time that forms its own culture with reference to the memory and identity constructions of the relevant epochs and the present day.

Annette Hautli-Janisz, Computational Rhetoric and Natural Language Processing, University of Passau
Stefanie Müller, Institute of Linguistics, Research Training Group IGRA, Leipzig University and Theological Ethics, University of Passau
Christian Handschuh, Ecclesiastical History and Christian Identities, University of Passau
Bernhard Bleyer, Theological Ethics, University of Passau