It’s been a while since anything related to religion and transhumanism passed across my radar (or I’ve been working on other things and just haven’t been paying attention). However, here’s a recent interview on Changesurfer Radio where James Hughes interviews Brent Waters about his slant on Christianity and Transhumanism. See: Do Christians Need Bodies?.

Hat tip to io9 : How should Christians feel about Transhumanism?

And here’s a list of related books by the conversation partners.

"This Mortal Flesh: Incarnation and Bioethics" (Brent Waters)

"From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology And Technology in a Postmodern World (Ashgate Science and Religion Series)" (Brent Waters)

"Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future" (James Hughes)

Waters also has an essay “Whose Salvation? Which Eschatology ? Transhumanism and Christianity as Competing Salvific Religions” in

"Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement" (Georgetown University Press)

From the religion and media file: AFP: Hajj being live-streamed on YouTube.

From Toronto, the latest issue of Tyndale University College and Seminary’s magazine focuses specifically on church and technology, including the summary of some research they’ve done on technology use in church in Ontario.

You can access the entire magazine in electronic form here: Tyndale, The Magazine | eVersion | Tyndale

The summary article is available here: Church and Technology | Tyndale.

And you can download the infographic from the article here: Church and Technology Infographic | Tyndale

Hat tip to John Dyer at The Church and Technology Survey and Infographic | Don’t Eat The Fruit who has some brief comments on it.

Just checked the letterbox on the way back from a walk with the kids and found my copy of this book in it. Was wondering when it would arrive.

Transhumanism and Transcendence | Georgetown University Press.

From the blurb:

Transhumanism and Transcendence
Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement
Ronald Cole-Turner, Editor
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.

Essays include:

1. Introduction: The Transhumanist Challenge
Ronald Cole-Turner

2. Contextualizing a Christian Perspective on Transcendence and Human Enhancement: Francis Bacon, N. F. Fedorov, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Michael S. Burdett

3. Transformation and the End of Enhancement: Insights from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
David Grumett

4. Dignity and Enhancement in the Holy City
Karen Lebacqz

5. Progress and Provolution: Will Transhumanism Leave Sin Behind?
Ted Peters

6. The Hopeful Cyborg
Stephen Garner

7. Artificial Wombs and Cyborg Births: Postgenderism and Theology
J. Jeanine Thweatt-Bates

8. Taking Leave of the Animal? The Theological and Ethical Implications of Transhuman Projects
Celia Deane-Drummond

9. Chasing Methuselah: Transhumanism and Christian Theosis in Critical Perspective
Todd T. W. Daly

10. Human or Vulcan? Theological Consideration of Emotional Control Enhancement
Michael L. Spezio

11. Whose Salvation? Which Eschatology? Transhumanism and Christianity as Contending Salvific Religions
Brent Waters

12. Transcendence, Technological Enhancement, and Christian Theology
Gerald McKenny

13. Transhumanism and Christianity
Ronald Cole-Turner

This Saturday it’s the annual TANSA / Vaughan Park Meeting | Vaughan Park Retreat Centre.

(TANSA = Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa)

Christian Faith and Postmodernity
Saturday 17 September
Postmodernity has not only challenged our understanding of truth it has also opened us up to new ways of accessing and understanding the truth, and has given us new challenges in transhumanism and in the interaction with artificial intelligence. A number of speakers will look at issues of truth, postmodernity, and Christian faith.

Speakers include Prof. Wilf Malcolm The Nature of Rational Truth in Mathematics and Theology; Yael Klangwisan, The Road to Awe: Art, the Poetic and Truth; Stephen Garner The posthuman in popular and academic cultures?

Time: 9am-2pm (including lunch)

Cost: $25

Venue: Vaughan Park Anglican Retreat Centre, Long Bay

You need to RSVP – see the link above for details.

Josh McDowell vs. Kevin Kelly | Jesus Creed points to these two opinions about the internet and its potential for harm or health respectively.

• In the negative corner: Apologist Josh McDowell: Internet the Greatest Threat to Christians, Christian News
• While in the optimistic corner, Kevin Kelly: Geek Theologian | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

I read Kelly’s blog The Technium from time to time. An interesting mixture of futurism, spirituality, and commentary on technology through an optimistic lens. In a course I teach I get students to read the following and respond in class to it: Kelly, Kevin. “Nerd Theology.” Technology in Society 21, no. 4 (1999): 387-392.

There’s also an interview in “Science and the Spiritual Quest: New Essays by Leading Scientists” (Phillip Clayton, Mark Richardson, Robert J. Russell, Kirk Wegter-McNelly), followed by a similar essay.

Kelly’s ideas on technology as a third-culture are also a good discussion starter. See: Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture.” Science 279 (1998): 992-993.

And related to digital life, Paul has some recent thoughts over at:

• fishers, surfers and casters » Coming of age in the digital era
• fishers, surfers and casters » Sherry Turkle has Carr syndrome

And I’ve been concerned with other things over the past year or so, but here’s a couple of transhuman/posthuman links to note:

• Singularity: Kurzweil on 2045, When Humans, Machines Merge – TIME
• Posthumanity stories – io9

Hat tip to SAET » Biblical Studies Toolbar » The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology for the link to the Tyndale Toolbar | Tyndale House.

Might be useful to have it available in the web browser from time to time.

The day started well yesterday. We had a really good session in the postgrad class ‘Science, Technology, Media and God’ looking at religion and spirituality in the online space, as well as some ethical thoughts on that, and then when I emerged from that there was a copy of “Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World“ from Lynne Baab waiting in the mail. Something to set as reading for the next time I teach the class, or for next year’s undergrad religion and media course that I’m waiting for approval on.

You can read a preview here

There’s also this interview here – Social Media “Friending” as a Spiritual Practice? A Q&A with Lynne Baab – Flunking Sainthood

(Will have a quick skim through tomorrow and see if it’s got anything useful for my ACADPRAC project hiding in it).

Ran a three session workshop on “digital life” for a vestry retreat day over on the North Shore today. I enjoyed it, and there were good questions and comments from people in the sessions and over morning tea and lunch.

The most recent Spiritual Outlook programme on Radio New Zealand National is on digital religion and includes an interview with Rachel Wagner (Ithaca College, and author of forthcoming Godwired: Religion. Ritual, and Virtual Reality).

You can listen to the audio here (as well as MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files). Podcast link is http://www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts/spiritualoutlook

Rachel was also interviewed recently over at Second Life (after death) – Tech 24 talks religion, faith apps and video gaming with Rachel Wagner | Les blogs

Related links:

Baylor University’s ‘Christian Reflection’ publication series (which is part journal, part study guide) has a special issue on the theme of Virtual Lives (including the article “Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet” by Heidi Campbell and Paul Teusner). See Baylor University || Christian Ethics || Virtual Lives to access the whole issue or individual contributions.
James McGrath points to a downloadable book of conference papers (“Visions of the Human in Science Fiction & Cyberpunk”) which includes some reflections on virtual religion. See his post over at: Exploring Our Matrix: A Long Overdue Book: Visions of the Human in Science Fiction & Cyberpunk
.