In this Book

summary

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.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. Introduction: The Transhumanist Challenge
  2. pp. 1-18
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. Contextualizing a Christian Perspective on Transcendence and Human Enhancement: Francis Bacon, N. F. Fedorov, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  2. pp. 19-36
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  2. pp. 37-50
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. Dignity and Enhancement in the Holy City
  2. pp. 51-72
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Progress and Provolution: Will Transhumanism Leave Sin Behind?
  2. pp. 63-86
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. The Hopeful Cyborg
  2. pp. 87-100
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Artificial Wombs and Cyborg Births: Postgenderism and Theology
  2. pp. 101-114
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. Taking Leave of the Animal?: The Theological and Ethical Implications of Transhuman Projects
  2. pp. 115-130
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. Chasing Methuselah: Transhumanism and Christian Theosis in Critical Perspective
  2. pp. 131-144
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10. Human or Vulcan?: Theological Consideration of Emotional Control Enhancement
  2. pp. 145-162
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11. Whose Salvation?: Which Eschatology? Transhumanism and Christianity as Contending Salvific Religions
  2. pp. 163-176
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 12. Transcendence, Technological Enhancement, and Christian Theology
  2. pp. 177-192
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 13. Transhumanism and Christianity
  2. pp. 193-204
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 205-208
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 209-219
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.