INTRODUCTION: FIVE STEPS TOWARD A RELIGION–AI DIALOGUE: with Andrea Vestrucci, “Introduction: Five Steps Toward a Religion–AI Dialogue”; Lluís Oviedo, “AI and Theology: Looking for a Positive—But Not Uncritical—Reception”; Christoph Benzmüller, “Symbolic AI and Gödel's Ontological Argument”; Sara Lumbreras, “Lessons from the Quest for Artificial Consciousness: The Emergence Criterion, Insight‐Oriented AI, and Imago Dei”; Marius Dorobantu, “Artificial Intelligence as a Testing Ground for Key Theological Questions”; and Andrea Vestrucci, “Artificial In

This introduction to the thematic section of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science on “Artificial Intelligence and Religion: Recent Advances and Future Directions” outlines the five articles by dividing them into two groups: the three that analyze the impact of recent advances in subsymbolic artificial intelligence (AI) on religion and theology, and the two that explore theological concepts in symbolic AI environments. These five articles are five steps toward a strong, deep, and interdisciplinary dialogue between the research in religion and the research in AI.