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The important role of hope in the author's thinking is acknowledged. While natural theology is important in its proper place, Christian theology centers on the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Its discourse will need to avail itself of the power of symbol. Keywords: hope; natural theology; symbol.

This response offers considerable agreement with Anne Foerst's analysis in her essay 'Cog, a Humanoid Robot, and the Question of the Image of God' (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 33 [March 1998]), yet endeavors to make her argument even more helpful. The response deals mainly with (1) the concept of symbol and the symbolic approach, (2) the symbolic description of a human being by artificial intelligence (Al) and by the theological symbol, 'image of God' (imago dei), and (3) the ensuing dialogue between scientists and theologians.

Karl Barth's Biblical hermeneutics is easier to understand when examined within the framework of Stanley Fish's critical approach. Fish's idea is that the reader creates the text at the moment of reading and that the meaning is, in part, shaped by the interpretive community to which the reader belongs. Context, then, is central to the reading of Barth's hermeneutics. As for the determination of what is the correct interpretation, the answer lies in persuasion. In other words, those opposed to a particular reading must show a better one.