Re-Imagining the Imago Dei in the Digital Age: Artificial Intelligence and the Formation of Student Identity in Higher Education

Abstract

This study re-examines the theological concept of the Imago Dei (Image of God), particularly its biblical grounding in Genesis 1:26–27, as an interpretive framework for understanding these transformations. The study employs a qualitative, interpretive, literature-based methodology that brings theological anthropology into conversation with philosophy of technology and contemporary higher education scholarship. Sources were identified through a structured search and selection process, examined against explicit relevance criteria, and synthesised through thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from the interdisciplinary literature: human agency and dignity, cognitive formation and externalisation, digitally mediated identity and authorship, and ethical-relational formation. The findings indicate that AI can augment learning and creativity but may also encourage cognitive dependence, blur conventional understandings of authorship, and intensify the tendency to evaluate students through measurable digital outputs. Contemporary higher education scholarship similarly emphasises the importance of human agency, critical engagement, ethical governance, and responsible AI literacy. The study argues that the Imago Dei provides a constructive theological framework to ensure that AI remains a means of supporting, rather than replacing, human intellectual, moral, relational, and spiritual formation. The paper proposes a human-centred model of AI integration in higher education grounded in dignity, agency, discernment, relationality, and holistic formation.