Engineers using AI to translate the Bible into new languages. Large language models simulating the language of Scripture to answer modern theological questions. A Reddit user who asked ChatGPT to write a Bible story about Jesus accepting transgender people. New apps that allow people to chat with biblical figures like Moses, Jesus, and even Judas Iscariot.

Along with workers worried about their jobs and conspiratorial types worried about a robot takeover, many scholars and pastors are worried about what AI will mean for biblical interpretation. As people increasingly turn to AI to answer their theological questions, how will these technologies shape our Bible reading?

Before we weigh the pros and cons of AI tools for Bible study, we should consider a deeper question: Why do we want AI to help us interpret the Bible? We apply tools to the Bible because we think they fit the task of biblical interpretation. What does AI provide a solution to? What need does it meet?

The history of American Bible interpretation can give us some answers.

Long before modern computing, the American Bible-publishing industry was flush with extrabiblical reference materials: concordances, commentaries, and charts. New printing methods made publishing increasingly efficient as literacy rates were rising, so more Bibles and Bible reading guides were printed.

According to historian Seth Perry in his book Bible Culture and Authority in the Early United States, the proliferation of concordances uniquely shaped American religious history. They fit the American ethos: Rather than listening to a religious authority interpret the text, concordances allowed the average reader to let Scripture interpret itself. The notes were not from a church tradition or a biblical scholar but simply referenced other parts of Scripture. The ideal for Bible reading was aptly described in the title of one popular Bible published in 1792: Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible.

The proliferation of Bible reading aids encouraged ...