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Chapter Two Contextualizing a Christian Perspective on Transcendence and Human Enhancement Francis Bacon, N. F. Fedorov, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin michael฀s.฀burdett Transhumanism is the contemporary movement that advocates the use of technologies—biotechnology or information technology— to transcend what it means to be human. Its dependence upon cutting-edge technologies might make it seem to be a fairly recent phenomenon. Today’s transhumanism has its antecedents, however, and its engagement with Christianity is not something that has only begun in the past decade. Although it is true that some Christian theologians have raised warnings about technology , it is equally true that other Christian intellectuals have promoted the use of technology, sometimes with a sense of urgency that rivals that of the transhumanists. Indeed, there is a strong tradition that does not see Christianity as at odds with human enhancement through technological means. In this chapter I summarize the thought of three Christian thinkers who have advocated human enhancement through the avowal of technological and scientific means. First I turn to Francis Bacon, the English philosopher and political leader whose writings four hundred years ago profoundly shaped the rise of scientific culture. The next is N. F. Fedorov, whose work late in the nineteenth century was influential in his own time and is being rediscovered today. Finally I turn to the French paleontologist and Jesuit scholar Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose writings about the convergence of technology and theology were largely banned in his own lifetime but have become widely influential in recent decades, precisely because he was able to foresee some of the technological transformations that have occurred since his death in 1955. In their own way these thinkers regard technology as an important movement in Christian history itself—they advocate technological , human enhancement on Christian theological grounds. Although Bacon, Fedorov, and Teilhard de Chardin are among the most important precursors of contemporary transhumanism to look favorably 20฀ michael฀s.฀burdett on transhumanism, others have made important contributions as well. For example, Freeman Dyson and Frank Tipler in the twentieth century come to mind, and perhaps one might even go as far back as Athanasius or Irenaeus and much of the Orthodox Christian tradition because of its avowal of divinization or theosis. The focus here, however, is on Bacon, Fedorov, and Teilhard de Chardin because these three represent, across some 350 years, major strides in bringing together contemporary transhumanism, with its emphasis on modern technology, and Christian practice and theology. Modern technology is a key component in their avowal of transhumanism, and their engagement with Christianity is not superficial but absolutely central to their advocacy of transhumanism. Francis Bacon Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) is a pivotal figure in both English political history and in philosophy and science. He has often been called the father of modernity and of contemporary science.1 He wrote on a wide variety of topics spanning a number of academic disciplines. His most important work for our consideration is the Instauratio Magna, a work organized in six parts: The Division of Sciences, The Novum Organon, The Phenomenon of the Universe, The Ladder of the Intellect, The Forerunners, and The New Philosophy.2 The term itself, Instauratio Magna, reveals how the work relates to transhumanism. This term was not in common use at the time and, in this way, points to the very specific way Bacon used it.3 The term instauration is taken from the Vulgate and alludes to the restoration of Solomon’s Temple.4 So, whereas “establish” and “restore” might adequately translate the word instauratio, one must also recognize that for Bacon, the term carries a very particular connotation charged with symbolic values and religious undertones. What is being restored are human faculties that have been lost in the Fall. As Bacon states: “Both things can be repaired even in this life to some extent, the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and sciences. For the Curse did not make the creation an utter and irrevocable outlaw. In virtue of the sentence ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,’ man, by manifold labours (and not by disputations, certainly, or by useless magical ceremonies ), compels the creation, in time and in part, to provide him with bread, that is to serve the purposes of human life.”5 Bacon’s Instauratio Magna is supposed to help humanity limit the effects of its unredeemed state. The Fall brought with it alienation from God and a marred...

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