Transhumanism and Transcendence
eBook - ePub

Transhumanism and Transcendence

Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement

  1. 232 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Transhumanism and Transcendence

Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Enhancement

About this book

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.

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Yes, you can access Transhumanism and Transcendence by Ronald Cole-Turner in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & Ethics in Medicine. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Georgetown University Press
Year
2011
Print ISBN
9781589017801
eBook ISBN
9781589017948
Topic
Medicine
Subtopic
Ethics in Medicine

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Chapter One: Introduction: The Transhumanist Challenge
  7. Chapter Two: Contextualizing a Christian Perspective on Transcendence and Human Enhancement
  8. Chapter Three: Transformation and the End of Enhancement
  9. Chapter Four: Dignity and Enhancement in the Holy City
  10. Chapter Five: Progress and Provolution
  11. Chapter Six: The Hopeful Cyborg
  12. Chapter Seven: Artificial Wombs and Cyborg Births
  13. Chapter Eight: Taking Leave of the Animal?
  14. Chapter Nine: Chasing Methuselah
  15. Chapter Ten: Human or Vulcan?
  16. Chapter Eleven: Whose Salvation? Which Eschatology?
  17. Chapter Twelve: Transcendence, Technological Enhancement, and Christian Theology
  18. Chapter Thirteen: Transhumanism and Christianity
  19. Contributors
  20. Index