Humanity 3.0: Christian Anthropology and the Posthuman Future (CT9149B)

Postgraduate, 24.0 points

Content

This unit addresses specific issues related to current scientific and technological developments, explores their impact upon different spheres of life and engages with major ethical and theological responses. Students will address a variety of questions related to Artificial Intelligence, robotics, biotech, space exploration, human enhancement, Big Data, surveillance, and indefinite life extension. The image of God, the nature of the ‘soul,’ the mind-body distinction and other topics in theological anthropology will be addresses in dialogue with Posthumanism and Transhumanism. Students will explore these issues through interdisciplinary theological reflection primarily drawing on the framework of virtue ethics.

Unit code: CT9149B

Unit status: Approved (Minor revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Systematic Theology

Delivery Mode: Online

Proposing College: Eva Burrows College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Critically explore the manner in which long-standing questions in theological anthropology are given new salience in the face of developing human enhancement technology.
2.

Assess a range of ideas about human nature that lie beyond or challenge the Christian tradition and bring them into critical dialogue with the Christian tradition.
3.

Provide a nuanced theological response to the claims of Transhumanism and Posthumanism.

4.

Provide a critical theological response to the ethical questions raised by the extension of human capacity and of the human life span
5.

Assess the commonalities and distinctions between the 'human extinction' movement and both eco-theology and animal theology.

Unit sequence

Prerequisite: 24 points in CT

Pedagogy

Engagement with the writings of both classical and contemporary theologians, set alongside scholarly literature on human enhancement technology, utilising online pedagogy.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Al-Amoudi, Ismael and Jamie Morgan, Realist Responses to Post-Human Society: Ex Machina. London and New York: Routledge, 2019.
  • Bostrom. Nick. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • Crisp, Oliver and Fred Sanders, eds. The Christian Doctrine of Humanity. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018.
  • Farris, Joshua R, and Charles Taliaferro, eds. The Ashgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology. London and New York: Routledge, 2017.
  • Ferrando, Francesca. The Art of Being Posthuman: Who Are We in the 21st Century?, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2024.
  • Koosed, Jennifer L., ed. The Bible and Posthumanism. Atlanta, GA: Society for Biblical Literature, 2015.
  • Mercer, Calvin and Tracy Trothen, eds. Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2014.
  • Shatzer, Jacob. Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today's Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship. Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2019.
  • Trothen, Tracy J. and Calvin Mercer, eds. Religion and Human Enhancement: Death, Values and Morality. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • Van Den Heuvel, Steven C. Being Human in a Technological Age: Rethinking Theological Anthropology. Leuven: Peeters, 2020.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Oral Presentation - Class presentation 2500 30.0
Essay - Essay 5000 70.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 10 Oct, 2024

Unit record last updated: 2024-10-10 11:17:37 +1100