Faith Forum | Deus ex machina: Magnifica Humanitas, AI, and the Fate of Democracy

About

Tuesday, November 10, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. Kulynych Auditorium, Porter Byrum Welcome Center

In ancient theater, deus ex machina named a stagecraft trick: a god lowered onto the stage by crane to rescue a story its characters could no longer save themselves. Today, a new kind of machine is being lowered into nearly every corner of our common life, into our classrooms and workplaces, our newsfeeds and courtrooms, our elections and our most private questions. The decisions being made about it now will shape the world.

This past May, Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas, his first encyclical, on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. Issued on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the letter brings the long tradition of Catholic social teaching to bear on the most pressing questions of this moment: human dignity, the meaning of work, the integrity of truth, and who holds power when intelligence itself can be bought and sold.

This Faith Forum convenes scholars from across Wake Forest University, spanning theology, ethics, worship, Catholic and Latin American studies, teaching and learning, and conservation biology, for a timely and wide-ranging conversation. Together, they will ask what this document demands of people of faith and people of conscience, and what it will take to keep democracy humane.

Join us for an evening of bold thinking and honest conversation, followed by a reception.

Conversation Partners

Betsy Barre Assistant Provost and Executive Director Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Jill Crainshaw Vice Dean and Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology Wake Forest University School of Divinity

Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Earley Associate Professor of Catholic and Latin American Studies Wake Forest University School of Divinity

Kevin Jung Professor of Theological Ethics and Moral Philosophy Wake Forest University School of Divinity

Miles Silman Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Professor of Conservation Biology Wake Forest University Department of Biology

Corey D. B. Walker MODERATOR Dean and Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities Wake Forest University School of Divinity