Op-ed: Christian education has been generating ‘prompts’ for thousands of years. AI just takes it to the next level

As my father and I recently observed a toddler babbling cheerfully to himself, my dad quipped, “He’s just expanding his LLM.”

This referenced large language modules (LLMs), of course – a model for artificial intelligence, or AI, to learn and process human communication. (It also provides a glimpse into our family’s distinct sense of humor.)

However, the joke made me ponder how many AI technologies are simply re-engineering ancient concepts for modern-day challenges.

President Donald Trump recently passed an executive order emphasizing AI education as “critical” for grades K-12. While this project may daunt some Christian educators, viewing such concepts through a biblical lens can provide huge payoffs for both teachers and students.

Let’s explore one example – prompt engineering, or the way humans can ask AI models to describe a task using language text.

Asking and answering questions 

If we examine one bedrock of Jesus’ teaching – specifically, how he asked and answered questions – we find striking similarities and differences to prompt engineering. 

One example stands out in Mark 12 where the religious leaders of the day were trying to trap Jesus into committing a political error over tax payments – which were at least as unpopular then as now, if not more so.

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” they asked after a lengthy period of flattery (Mark 12:13-15, NKJV).

Try typing the same question a few times into ChatGPT. You’ll probably generate some references to the question’s “historical and philosophical contexts” and “relationships between civic duties, moral obligations, and religious faith.”

The system may also spit out several bullet points comparing Roman law, Jewish law and Jesus’ teaching.

However, ChatGPT never replied on its own volition along the same lines as Jesus did: “Would you like to try giving Caesar whatever belongs to him, while still giving God whatever belongs to God?” 

Manipulating information vs. ‘divine download’

A crucial difference I see is how AI can manipulate information already provided into its system. As a result, any output will correlate with the quality of material it’s receiving. 

Ask an ambiguous prompt without much context, and you’ll receive a similarly vague answer or follow-up questions as the machine works to gather data.

In contrast, Christians view Jesus’ teachings as higher than mere information – a divine download, if you will – involving values to help them navigate life itself. 

These teachings introduce new mental paradigms, express moral authority and provide eternal perspectives on ever-changing conundrums. Over time, the collective treasure of the Bible has transformed entire civilizations and cultures.

As Christian educators, we should also be training our students to ask and answer questions – equipping them not only for further AI advances, but also for life as a whole. 

Some points to keep in mind: 

1. Anticipate ambiguity and awkward pauses.  

Asking questions can lead to uncomfortable silences in the classroom. However, don’t let this deter you.  

Even Jesus’ disciples never directly answered disconcerting queries such as, “What were you arguing about during the journey?” (Mark 9:33, CEB). 

This seemingly rhetorical question helps the disciples discover a new perspective when they had been trying to decide who was greatest among them.

At times, teachers may need to introduce a similar level of discomfort in boosting students’ overall growth. 

Psychologist Angela Duckworth calls out the importance of dealing with challenges in her book Grit: Passion, Perseverance, and the Science of Success.

“Grit grows as we figure out our life philosophy, learn to dust ourselves off after rejection and disappointment, and learn to tell the difference between low-level goals that should be abandoned quickly and higher-level goals that demand more tenacity,” she writes. “The maturation story is that we develop the capacity for long-term passion and perseverance as we get older.” 

If anything in AI gives me pause, it’s the apparent promise of reducing or even removing ambiguity. Prompts will always generate soothing replies, even if they don’t exactly match your original queries. 

However, life doesn’t always lend itself to a neat compilation of quotes and statistics from different sources. Sometimes you may need to consider new information or make decisions without any obvious precedent. 

2. Consider object lessons. 

Teachers can present metaphors, similes and – dare I say it? – parables to captivate students’ hearts even while their minds may not yet grasp all the implications. 

For example, Jesus masterfully showcased everyday objects and even people to demonstrate deeper truths to his audience. 

In the example of paying taxes, he held up a denarius bearing Caesar’s image (Mark 12:16). When teaching his disciples the correct meaning of greatness, he brought a little child into their midst (Mark 9:36). 

Even if there’s no immediate connection between your object lesson and what you’re trying to convey, humans of all ages tend to love mysteries with the promise of an ultimate revelation.

A slow unfolding of your point can help your students’ critical thinking skills as well. Let them struggle to make sense of apparent contradictions and enigmas on their own. They could even draw conclusions and parallels beyond the original ones you wanted.

3. Focus on the end goal. 

At their best, questions help us establish our priorities faster than any information summary ever could. They create hierarchies of value and strip out matters of less importance.

Unfortunately, modern public education has shown itself increasingly incapable of achieving basic learning milestones. Take last year’s results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), where one-third of eighth graders and 40% of fourth graders “failed to meet reading benchmarks.”

What kind of education are we providing if too many students can’t even read before they graduate? 

As a result, frustration with government schools has risen to record levels – increasing to 73% of those surveyed in a February Gallup poll. 

“We’re in enormous risk of losing an entire generation of learners unless we show some focus and leadership,” lamented Jane Swift, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts serving on the National Assessments Governing Board. 

Ultimately, Jesus captured the importance of the end goal in one of the most famous questions ever recorded: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26) 

Just as toddlers learn to speak through babbling, Christian educators should tap into the potential of AI to give us “the whole world” at a scale previous generations never imagined. 

However, we cannot stop simply at the level of information – just as infants must go beyond sounds and intonations to form specific words with meaning. 

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil,” C.S. Lewis once observed. 

A successful education involves training up leaders to establish their own value systems for handling all the real-world challenges they will face.

As we continue exploring AI technologies, we should remember this covers not just the challenges already recognized – but those yet to be discovered.