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Gracious Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Document Type

Paper

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Architecture is a paradoxical discipline that at once claims to be a form of art while also functioning in society as a community of licensed professionals responsible for the public good. The contradiction between these aims is the core of the profession’s ethical dilemma that Karsten Harries has identified as the source of its failure to facilitate human dwelling in community. This lack of ethical grounding leaves architects without adequate response to the encroachment of artificial intelligence that is supported by a utilitarian critique of the professional status quo. An alternative account of architecture’s value is provided by the Christian perspective of the philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff whose claims assume a resolution of the art and science of architecture based on divine grace. His understanding of grace is a contrast to both the utilitarian altruism of AI technologists, such as Dario Amodei, and the unauthorized giving of the professional architect described by Harries. The fidelity of Wolterstorff’s grace to the writing of the New Testament is upheld by a historical analysis of grace in the thought of the Apostle Paul provided by the biblical historian John M. G. Barclay. These alternative views of grace and their implications for the practice of architecture frame challenges and prospects for the Christian architect in the age of artificial intelligence.

This project was an output for The Belmont Formation Scholars Cohort for Character Research and Writing, which received generous support funding from The Kern Family Foundation.

I gratefully acknowledge peer review feedback on this project, and I am accountable for writing of this product without generative AI and in alignment with the aspirations of Belmont’s AI policy and the Psalm 8 AI Taskforce as of this date.

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