The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World

THE LIFE WE'RE LOOKING FOR: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World by Andy Crouch. New York: Convergent Books, 2022. 226 pages, including notes. Hardcover; $25.00. ISBN: 9780593237342. *In The Life We're Looking For, subtitled Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, author Andy Crouch examines modern Western life given the ubiquity of and our dependence on technology. This is not a book about technology--you will not learn anything new about the Internet, your cellphone, or AI. Instead, you will be asked to examine life in this modern age rife with loneliness, how we got here, and what we can do about it. *The book is divided into three sections: six chapters identifying the problems of the modern age, a one-chapter "intermission," and five chapters identifying solutions to the problems. The problems of this world can be summarized by the subtitles of the first six chapters: "The Loneliness of a Personalized World," "What We've Forgotten about Being a Person," "How We Trade Personhood for Effortless Power," "The Ancient Roots of Our Tech Obsession," "How Impersonal Power Rules Our World," and "Why the Next Tech Revolution Will Succeed--and Also Fail." *One of Crouch's major themes is that our modern conveniences promise us superpowers. This sounds like a good thing, but in reality it is not. Cars, trains, and planes allow us to move great distances quickly with little effort. Our cell phones give us the ability to translate languages, access vast amounts of information, and communicate almost instantaneously with people around the world. Even our household devices allow us to clean our house without any effort. How these devices work is, for most of us, indistinguishable from magic. Yet, having these abilities leaves us without the need for relationships, and without the need for long-term investment in a project or craft--such as learning a foreign language or learning to play an instrument. We lack the need (and ability?) to love with our full heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are allowed to skim across the surface of life instead of diving deep into it. *Another major theme of the book is Crouch's definition of Mammon. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon." Crouch expands Mammon from a concept to a being. Mammon is the demonic creature that rules the world. "… What [Mammon] wants, above all, is to separate power from relationship, abundance from dependence, and being from personhood" (p. 76). Mammon an