Young Kenyan Women’s Spiritual Formation in the Age of AI
AI is rapidly reconfiguring religious authority, spiritual formation, and theological imagination across Africa. What does wisdom look like when faith is formed within algorithm ecologies? And how might African Christianity speak into global conversations about AI, authority, and the future of spiritual formation on a continent undergoing such rapid reconfiguration?
On Thursday, 21 May 2026 at 1400 UTC, Prof. Damaris Seleina Parsitau will examine how young Kenyan women are quietly yet consequentially reshaping African Christianity through AI-enabled digital platforms. Rather than treating them as passive consumers of technological change, she would argue that they are active theological agents: curating devotional content, reinterpreting Scripture, hosting prayer networks, building online faith communities, navigating mental health and belonging and holding church and state entanglements to account. By foregrounding African women’s digital religious creativity, Parsitau posits that any serious global conversation about AI and the future of faith must reckon with voices from the margins, where the machine meets the Spirit in ways neither Silicon Valley nor the institutional church has fully anticipated.
Prof. Damaris Parsitau is an Associate Professor of World Christianity and Gender Studies and is currently based at Calvin University, where she serves as Director of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. She has taught extensively in universities in Kenya, South Africa, and the United States, including at Harvard University and Calvin University. In addition to her appointment at Calvin University, Prof. Parsitau is a Professor at Daystar University, Kenya, and holds the title of Professor Extraordinaire at both the University of South Africa and the University of the Western Cape. Alongside her roles in university executive leadership, research institutes, and policy institutions, for over 3 decades Professor Parsitau has maintained a sustained and active research profile, with significant scholarly publications and postgraduate supervision throughout her career.
