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Technology is one of the dominant forces shaping the emerging postmodern world. Indeed the very fabric of daily life is dependent upon various information, communication, and transportation technologies. With anticipated advances in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and robotics, that dependence will increase. Yet this growing dependence is accompanied with a deep ambivalence. For many, technology symbolises the faith of the postmodern world, but it is an ambivalent faith encapsulating both our hopes and fears for the future. This book examines the religious foundations underlying this troubled faith in technology, as well as critically and constructively engaging particular technological developments from a theological perspective.
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FROM HUMAN TO POSTHUMAN Technology is one of the dominant forces shaping the emerging postmodern world. Indeed the very fabric of daily life is dependent upon various information, communication and transportation technologies. With anticipated advances in biotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics, that dependence will increase. Yet this growing dependence is accompanied with a deep ambivalence. For many, technology symbolizes the faith of the postmodern world, but it is an ambivalent faith encapsulating both our hopes and fears for the future. This book examines the religious foundations underlying this troubled faith in technology, as well as critically and constructively engaging particular technological developments from a theological perspective. Ashgate Science and Religion Series Series Editors: Roger Trigg, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, UK J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA Science and religion have often been thought to be at loggerheads but much contemporary work in this flourishing interdisciplinary field suggests this is far from the case. The Ashgate Science and Religion Series presents exciting new work to advance interdisciplinary study, research and debate across key themes in science and religion, exploring the philosophical relations between the physical and social sciences on the one hand and religious belief on the other. Contemporary issues in philosophy and theology are debated, as are prevailing cultural assumptions arising from the ‘post-modernist’ distaste for many forms of reasoning. The series enables leading international authors from a range of different disciplinary perspectives to apply the insights of the various sciences, theology and philosophy and look at the relations between the different disciplines and the rational connections that can be made between them. These accessible, stimulating new contributions to key topics across science and religion will appeal particularly to individual academics and researchers, graduates, postgraduates and upper-undergraduate students. Other titles published in this series: Theology and Psychology Fraser Watts 0 7546 1672 X (hbk) 0 7546 1673 8 (pbk) Islam and Science Muzaffar Iqbal 0 7546 0799 2 (hbk) 0 7546 0800 X (pbk) Science, Theology, and Ethics Ted Peters 0 7546 0824 7 (hbk) 0 7546 0825 5 (pbk) Theology and Modern Physics Peter E. Hodgson 0 7546 3622 4 (hbk) 0 7546 3623 2 (pbk) From Human to Posthuman Christian Theology and Technology in a Postmodern World BRENT WATERS Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA # Brent Waters 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Brent Waters has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower H