The Logos tou Staurou and Competing Logoi
Paul’s Theology of the Cross for Christian Witness for an Algorithmic Public Square
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23311740 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jason D Crowder (0000-0002-6865-7530, Cypress College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 863 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel17070863 |
| OpenAlex | W7169861519 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
The emergence of algorithmic authority has profoundly reshaped contemporary understandings of truth, knowledge, and human flourishing. As computational systems increasingly assume epistemic authority once entrusted to philosophical, religious, and civic institutions, the church faces a renewed challenge of bearing faithful witness within a culture governed by competing accounts of wisdom and power. This article argues that the apostle Paul’s logos tou staurou constitutes a rival account of reality that reconfigures knowledge, the identity of God, human flourishing, apostolic mission, and ultimately Christian public witness through a distinctively cruciform rationality, thereby challenging both ancient philosophical rationalism and contemporary algorithmic authority. By focusing on 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:16 and 9:19–23, this study demonstrates that the logos tou staurou (“word of the cross”) reconfigures wisdom, power, human identity, and mission through God’s self-revelation in the crucified Christ. Rather than presenting cruciformity as a secondary ethical consequence of salvation, Paul presents the cross as the self-revelation of God from which cruciform discipleship, apostolic mission, and faithful public witness necessarily flow. Bringing Paul’s theology of the cross into conversation with both the Stoic Logos of the first century and contemporary algorithmic authority, this article argues that the logos tou staurou offers a comprehensive theological alternative to rival cultural logoi by relocating wisdom from autonomous rationality to God’s cruciform self-revelation. While Stoicism and algorithmic systems promise human flourishing through rational autonomy and computational certainty, Paul locates divine wisdom in weakness, vulnerability, and self-giving love. The cross, therefore, provides the church with a distinctively cruciform rationality for faithful witness within an age increasingly shaped by algorithmic authority.
Apostle · Discernment · Flourishing · Identity (music) · Logos Bible Software · Rationality · SOCRATES · Witness · Interdisciplinary Studies: Technology, Society, and Humanities · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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