Bibliographic research performance and CRIS
Research Areas:
- Artificial Intelligence and Religion
- Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
- Future of Technology
- Artificial Intelligence and the Environment
- Ministry in a Technological Age
- Conflict and Identity in Bosnia
Biography:
Dr. Noreen Herzfeld is the Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University, Collegeville MN, and The College of St. Benedict. Dr. Herzfeld received her bachelor’s degree in 1978 from St. Olaf College, where she majored in Mathematics and Music. She received an MA in Mathematics and an MS in Computer Science from The Pennsylvania State University in 1982 and began teaching computer science at The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. As chair of the Computer Science department, she was instrumental in initiating a Computer Science major for the combined schools and developing a separate Computer Science department.
In 1994, Dr. Herzfeld received an MA in Spirituality from St. John’s and a doctorate in Theology in 2000 from The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley CA where she worked under Robert Russell. She returned to St. John’s as Reuter Professor of Science and Religion and continues to teach in both Computer Science and St. John’s Graduate School of Theology and Seminary, combining her interests in Christian and Islamic spirituality with the ethical and religious issues raised by artificial intelligence and our digitally saturated culture.
In 2008, Dr. Herzfeld taught at the University of Sarajevo, the Institute of Islamic Sciences, and the Franciscan Theological Seminary of Sarajevo as a Fulbright Scholar. She has continued her connection with southern Europe as a senior research fellow at the Institute for philosophical and religious studies, Science and Research Center (ZRS) of Koper, Slovenia. Dr. Herzfeld is the author of The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age (Fortress, 2023), In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit (Fortress, 2002), Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World (Templeton, 2009), and The Limits of Perfection in Technology, Religion, and Science (Pandora, 2010). She is the editor of Religion and the New Technologies (MDPI, 2017) and co-editor of Religious and Cultural Implications of Technology-Mediated Relationships in a Post-Pandemic World (Lexington, 2023) and Encountering AI: Ethical and Anthropoligical Issues (Pickwick, 2024). She has published numerous scholarly articles and is a frequent speaker internationally.