Religion and Transhumanism

Calvin Mercer, PhD, is professor of religion and director of the Religious Studies Program at East Carolina University.Tracy J. Trothen, PhD, is associate professor of religion at the Queen's University School of Religion, in Kingston, Ontario.

• Introduction: Making the Unknown KnownCalvin MercerSection 1: Theological Anthropology: What It Means to Be Human1 Transhumanism and the Meaning of LifeAnders Sandberg2 More Human Than the Human? Toward a "Transhumanist" Christian Theological AnthropologyMatthew Zaro Fisher3 Cindi, Six, and Her: Gender, Relationality, and Friendly Artificial IntelligenceJeanine Thweatt-BatesSection 2: Soteriology: Salvation Now and Forever4 "The Relief of Man's Estate": Transhumanism, the Baconian Project, and the Theological Impetus for Material SalvationJoseph Wolyniak5 A Salvation Paradox for Transhumanism: Saving You versus Saving YouPatrick D. Hopkins6 Diagnosing Death in the Transhumanism and Christian TraditionsTodd T. W. Daly7 Cyborg, Sage, and Saint: Transhumanism as Seen from an East Asian Theological SettingHeup Young KimSection 3: Eschatology: For What Do We Hope?8 Becoming God by the Numbers: An Evolutionary Journey toward the DivinePhilip A. Douglas9 The Religion of Technology: Transhumanism and the Myth of ProgressMichael S. Burdett10 Extreme Longevity: Insights from the Three Chinese Spiritual TraditionsGeoffrey Redmond11 Utopianism and Eschatology: Judaism Engages TranshumanismHava Tirosh-Samuelson12 Rapture of the Geeks: Singularitarianism, Feminism, and the Yearning for TranscendenceAmy Michelle DeBaetsSection 4: Extreme Enhancement Ethics: Theological, Bioethical, and Philosophical Questions13 Transhumanism and Catholic Natural Law: Changing Human Nature and Changing Moral NormsBrian Patrick Green14 The Risks of Transhumanism: Religious Engagements with the Precautionary and Proactionary PrinciplesDaniel McFee15 Christian Theology and Transhumanism: The "Created Co-creator" and Bioethical PrinciplesStephen Garner16 Remaking Human Nature: Transhumanism, Theology, and Creatureliness in Bioethical ControversiesCelia Deane-Drummond17 Critical Transhumanism as a Religious Ethic of OthernessSteven A. Benko and Amelia HrubySection 5: Body Matters18 Return of the Corporeal Battle: How Second-Century Christology Struggles Inform the Transhumanism DebateLee A. Johnson19 Flesh Made Data: The Posthuman Project in Light of the IncarnationBrent Waters20 Morphological Freedom and the Rebellion against Human Bodiliness: Notes from the Roman Catholic TraditionCory Andrew Labrecque21 The Fleshless Future: A Phenomenological Perspective on Mind UploadingHannah ScheidtSection 6: Corporeal Diversity and Religious Experience22 Does Transhumanism Face an Uncanny Valley among the Religious?Donald M. Braxton23 The Trans-Athlete and the Religion of Sport: Implications of Transhumanism for Elite Sport's Spiritual DimensionTracy J. Trothen24 Spiritual EnhancementRon Cole-TurnerConclusion: Transhumanism and Religion: Glimpsing the Future of Human EnhancementTracy J. TrothenBibliographyIndexAbout the Editors and Contributors