Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church

Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church PDF Author: Steve Donaldson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319903233
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Christians have always been concerned with enhancement—now they are faced with significant questions about how technology can help or harm genuine spiritual transformation. What makes traditional and technological enhancement different from each other? Are there theological insights and spiritual practices that can help Christians face the challenge of living in a technological world without being dangerously conformed to its values? This book calls on Christians to understand and engage the deep issues facing the church in a technological, transhumanist future.

Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church

Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church PDF Author: Steve Donaldson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319903233
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Christians have always been concerned with enhancement—now they are faced with significant questions about how technology can help or harm genuine spiritual transformation. What makes traditional and technological enhancement different from each other? Are there theological insights and spiritual practices that can help Christians face the challenge of living in a technological world without being dangerously conformed to its values? This book calls on Christians to understand and engage the deep issues facing the church in a technological, transhumanist future.

Transhumanism and the Image of God

Transhumanism and the Image of God PDF Author: Jacob Shatzer
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830865780
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
We're constantly invited to think about the future of technology as a progressive improvement of tools: our gadgets will continue to evolve, but we humans will stay basically the same. In the future, perhaps even alien species and intelligent robots will coexist alongside humans, who will grapple with challenges and emerge as the heroes. But the truth is that radical technological change has the power to radically shape humans as well. We must be well informed and thoughtful about the steps we're already taking toward a transhuman or even posthuman future. Can we find firm footing on a slippery slope? Biblical ethicist Jacob Shatzer guides us into careful consideration of the future of Christian discipleship in a disruptive technological environment. In Transhumanism and the Image of God, Shatzer explains the development and influence of the transhumanist movement, which promotes a "next stage" in human evolution. Exploring topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, medical technology, and communications tools, he examines how everyday technological changes have already altered and continue to change the way we think, relate, and understand reality. By unpacking the doctrine of the incarnation and its implications for human identity, he helps us better understand the proper place of technology in the life of the disciple and avoid false promises of a posthumanist vision. We cannot think about technology use today without considering who we will become tomorrow.

Transhumanism and Transcendence

Transhumanism and Transcendence PDF Author: Ronald Cole-Turner
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1589017943
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
The timeless human desire to be more beautiful, intelligent, healthy, athletic, or young has given rise in our time to technologies of human enhancement. Athletes use drugs to increase their strength or stamina; cosmetic surgery is widely used to improve physical appearance; millions of men take drugs like Viagra to enhance sexual performance. And today researchers are exploring technologies such as cell regeneration and implantable devices that interact directly with the brain. Some condemn these developments as a new kind of cheating—not just in sports but in life itself—promising rewards without effort and depriving us most of all of what it means to be authentic human beings. “Transhumanists,” on the other hand, reject what they see as a rationalizing of human limits, as if being human means being content forever with underachieving bodies and brains. To be human, they insist, is to be restless with possibilities, always eager to transcend biological limits. As the debate grows in urgency, how should theology respond? Christian theologians recognize truth on both sides of the argument, pointing out how the yearnings of the transhumanists—if not their technological methods—find deep affinities in Christian belief. In this volume, Ronald Cole-Turner has joined seasoned scholars and younger, emerging voices together to bring fresh insight into the technologies that are already reshaping the future of Christian life and hope.

Crossing Wires

Crossing Wires PDF Author: Joel Oesch
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 172528734X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
The Digital Age has transformed nearly every facet of Western culture. More than ever, people are turning away from face-to-face interactions to spend countless hours mediating life through a screen. Such changes can be felt in the arenas of politics, sexuality, work, and recreation. Some futurists argue for the development of Transhumanism, a commitment to expanding human capacities through the use of applied technologies across a variety of platforms. The proponents promise radically long life, super-intelligence, and extreme bliss. But how does technology shape us at the spiritual level? Do our bodies even matter anymore? Crossing Wires navigates the complex terrain of digital and robotic technologies with refreshing approachability. The book opens the door for discussions on technology's influence on human identity while laying out a case for embodied, empathetic communities of grace that can serve as a necessary antidote to a society that seems to love and trust devices above all else.

Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics

Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics PDF Author: Arvin M. Gouw
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498584144
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
"In this book, the contributors examine how various religious traditions engage with transhumanism and its vision for the future"--

Transhumanism as a Challenge for Ethics and Religion

Transhumanism as a Challenge for Ethics and Religion PDF Author: Robert Petkovsek
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 3643912978
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The crucial question of our time is: How to preserve humanity, humanitas, in a world of radical and not so long ago practically unimaginable technological possibilities? The book addresses this issue through its treatment of transhumanism, a diverse movement the representatives of which promise and advocate for the enhancement of human being through modern science, technology, and pharmacology. Their views differ in the degree of extremity, and they contain many ambiguities, as well as pitfalls and dangers that require an answer from both ethical and religious points of view. The book deepens the understanding of transhumanism in an interdisciplinary way and thus helps to form the right attitude towards it that will truly benefit human flourishing. It offers a rich variety of views on transhumanism, ranging from its illumination in the light of contemporary research into happiness, through liberal eugenics and biopolitics, all the way to its considerations in terms of religions and manifestations in concrete works of art.

Transhumanism as a Challenge for Ethics and Religion

Transhumanism as a Challenge for Ethics and Religion PDF Author: LIT Verlag
Publisher: LIT Verlag
ISBN: 3643962975
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
The crucial question of our time is: How to preserve humanity, humanitas, in a world of radical and not so long ago practically unimaginable technological possibilities? The book addresses this issue through its treatment of transhumanism, a diverse movement the representatives of which promise and advocate for the enhancement of human being through modern science, technology, and pharmacology. Their views differ in the degree of extremity, and they contain many ambiguities, as well as pitfalls and dangers that require an answer from both ethical and religious points of view. The book deepens the understanding of transhumanism in an interdisciplinary way and thus helps to form the right attitude towards it that will truly benefit human flourishing. It offers a rich variety of views on transhumanism, ranging from its illumination in the light of contemporary research into happiness, through liberal eugenics and biopolitics, all the way to its considerations in terms of religions and manifestations in concrete works of art. Robert Petkovšek is Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana. Professor Bojan Žalec is the Head of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Ethics at the Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana.

Transhumanism, Ethics and the Therapeutic Revolution

Transhumanism, Ethics and the Therapeutic Revolution PDF Author: Stephen Goundrey-Smith
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000842622
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
This book explores the impact of developments in pharmaceutical medicine in the twentieth century on a Christian ethical evaluation of transhumanism and future "hi-tech" medical enhancement technologies. It suggests that the Christian ethical assessment of proposed future radical transhumanist biomedical technologies should be conducted in the light of responses to past medical advances. Two specific case studies are featured, focusing on the oral contraceptive pill and on Prozac and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. Whilst future biomedical technologies may have therapeutic benefits for the relief of disease and contribute to improving human health and welfare, the book considers the implications for society and their acceptability as therapies from a Christian perspective. Stressing the inadequacy of natural law alone, the author proposes an ethical framework for assessing novel biomedical technologies according to the effects on personal autonomy, embodiment and bodily life, and on the imago Dei.

The Transhumanism Handbook

The Transhumanism Handbook PDF Author: Newton Lee
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030169200
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 863

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Book Description
Modern humanity with some 5,000 years of recorded history has been experiencing growing pains, with no end in sight. It is high time for humanity to grow up and to transcend itself by embracing transhumanism. Transhumanism offers the most inclusive ideology for all ethnicities and races, the religious and the atheists, conservatives and liberals, the young and the old regardless of socioeconomic status, gender identity, or any other individual qualities. This book expounds on contemporary views and practical advice from more than 70 transhumanists. Astronaut Neil Armstrong said on the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Transhumanism is the next logical step in the evolution of humankind, and it is the existential solution to the long-term survival of the human race.

Everyday Theology (Cultural Exegesis)

Everyday Theology (Cultural Exegesis) PDF Author: Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 9781441200495
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Everyday theology is the reflective and practical task of living each day as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. In other words, theology is not just for Sundays, and it's not just for professional theologians. Everyday Theology teaches all Christians how to get the theological lay of the land. It enables them to become more conscious of the culture they inhabit every day so that they can understand how it affects them and how they can affect it. If theology is the ministry of the Word to the world, everyday theologians need to know something about that world, and Everyday Theology shows them how to understand their culture make an impact on it. Engaging and full of fresh young voices, this book is the first in the new Cultural Exegesis series.