Death and Glory in Techno-scientific Societies

What role ought reflection on death to play in any vision of life and indeed the glorified life? My current research proposes to answer this question by engaging the Christian tradition with transhumanism and humanism more broadly.

My argument throughout this project is that only when the vision of eternal life is tempered through the crucible of death can it truly be called glorified. In this way, much of my approach in this project is that both the humanist and Christian traditions have much to offer in correcting the creeping ideology of transhumanism into our present techno-scientific society. Denying the universality of death and obsessively avoiding death's imminence is highly dangerous and detracts from true human flourishing. In essence, I argue for the continued relevance of Christianity in developing contemporary accounts of anthropology and flourishing in the face of popular ideologies.

Read more about the project at "Human Flourishing in a Technological World" webpage

Publications

• MICHAEL BURDETT, 2020. Personhood and Creation in an Age of Robots and AI: Can We Say “You” to Artifacts? Zygon. 55(2), 347-360
• MICHAEL BURDETT and VICTORIA LORRIMAR, 2019. Creatures Bound for Glory: Biotechnological Enhancement and Visions of Human Flourishing Studies in Christian Ethics.
• MICHAEL BURDETT and VICTORIA LORRIMAR, 2019. Theological Reflections on Human Biotechnological Enhancement Studies in Christian Ethics.
• MICHAEL BURDETT, 2019. Creaturehood and Deification as Anchors for an Ethics of Gene Editing. In: ERIK PARENS and JOSEPHINE JOHNSTON, eds., Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing Oxford University Press.
• MICHAEL BURDETT and VICTORIA LORRIMAR, 2018. Deification and Creaturehood in an Age of Enhancement Theology and Science. 16(3), 247-250