What this book is for

As authors of this book we came to some clear conclusions about the significance of computer technology during our meetings to discuss the text. These have been briefly laid out in this chapter. To summarize:

1. The impact of computers is both pervasive and profound.
2. The effect of computers on us as individuals and on society is not neutral: they present us with both enormous benefits and enormous problems at the same time.
3. This forces us to address moral questions which fall outside the territory of our shared moral consensus, so we have to figure out right and wrong all over again.

It is the purpose of this book to provide the reader with some tools with which to tackle the moral and spiritual questions raised by computer use. Since the book was written by a group of Christians it is to that tradition we have naturally turned. It has been our experience in the rest of our lives that insights from the Bible and other parts of the Christian tradition can give us both a moral framework and the sense of identity that are necessary to equip us to deal with new moral challenges as they arise. It is our belief and hope that non-Christians will also have much to gain from this approach.