Co-creating Ourselves: Deification and Creaturehood in an Age of Biotechnological Enhancement

Human beings are at an important stage in their evolutionary history. New advances in GRIN (genetics, robotics, informatics and nanotechnology) technologies make possible the radical alteration of the human condition and a growing section of the population advocates the unfettered use of technology for enhancement purposes. Christians are some of the most severe critics of human enhancement and makeup a significant portion of the population; yet little theological work has been done to assess key Christian beliefs that have substantial import for the human enhancement debates: namely, deification and creaturehood. This project seeks to fill this gap by addressing the question: ‘How can theological reflection on the human being as a “creature” bound for “glory/deification” contribute to shaping the human future and can scientific and technological enhancement contribute to future human flourishing?’ This project will focus on defining Christian and scientific (neuroscience, psychology and biology) responses to human beings as ‘creatures’ who are bound for ‘glory/deification’ with the aim of applying this wisdom to debates on human enhancement. The hope is that if open, respected and learned Christian scholars can break ground on the conceptual issues hindering reasonable Christian engagement with human enhancement issues, then it can begin to influence in effective ways the wider Christian church, policy makers and society. Main activities of the project include several peer-reviewed articles, a scholarly monograph, an international symposium that will convene Christian scholars on the topic and a ‘white paper’ that addresses future areas of empirical research and new avenues to pursue for a ‘scientifically-engaged theology’.