Bodies and Persons: Theological Reflections on Transhumanism

While cautioned by Ted Peters’ critique of the more radical brand of transhumanism, in this article the author affirms a greater openness on the part of Christian theology toward the transhumanist/posthumanist program. A key concern will be the place of the human body. Christians affirm an eschatological resurrection of the body. This stands in contrast to radical transhumanists who seek cybernetic immortality—that is, disembodied intelligence. Yet, such intelligence could manifest in a virtual or robotic body. Therefore, it turns out that a posthuman entity, whether an upload or superintelligence, can have a body, albeit qualitatively different from the familiar flesh and blood body. If a pothuman entity can also have personhood, then why could not the promise of God apply?     

Going beyond the Human: Christians and Other Transhumanists

Abstract

Today's transhumanists ask good questions about the human future. What about their answers? Is their version of transhumanism useful or acceptable to Christian theology today? No, at least not in its usual form. Transhumanism and Christianity divide on how we think about the cause of the changes that lie ahead for humanity. For transhumanists, the cause or the agent of human transcendence is technology. For Christians, it is grace, the underserved goodness of God who gives life and wholeness to the creation. Our core question is whether it is proper for Christian theology to see technology as contributing in any way to the future that a gracious God has in store for the creation. Does God work through technology? Yes. We may contribute through technology to what God is doing; but it is always God's doing.     

Going beyond the Human: Christians and Other Transhumanists

Transhumanism is a Christian concept. Although today's transhumanism has secularized the original Christian promise for divinization or theosis by adding evolution and technological progress, Christians should critically re‐take ownership of the role transhumanism plays in the sanctification process.     

人类增强技术的发展与人性的论争

对于科技的发展,不能非此即彼,采取极端的态度,而是应该采用审视和适应的态度来面对,应理性地分析科技所带来的危险与拯救的共存现象。因而对于人类增强技术的争议不是“会不会”的事实判断,而是“应不应该”的伦理价值表述。现代技术危机的实质并不是技术本身的危机,而是价值危机和伦理危机。因而需要建立具有建设性的讨论机制,其决策必须由有责任感的、谨慎对待利益和风险的、尊重自主权和个人权利的、关注所有人利益和尊严的道德眼光来引导,必须关注子孙后代的利益,且需要承担相应的道德责任。

     

Does Jesus Save the Neanderthals? Theological Perspectives on the Evolutionary Origins and Boundaries of Human Nature

Does Jesus save the Neanderthals? Do the Neanderthals need saving? Are they worth saving? And what about other non‐human animals? What theological sense can be made of the boundaries of human nature when considered in light of contemporary evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology? This article explores how theologians can begin to approach such questions by looking at four key areas where theological anthropology, evolutionary biology, and paleoanthropology intersect—1) human nature, 2) human uniqueness, 3) the imago Dei, and 4) the incarnation.     

The Destiny of Creation: Theological Ethical Reflections on Laudato Si'

In this essay, I ask what the precise relation is between Laudato si's theology and its claims about our individual and corporate responsibility for the environment and the plight of the poor. To do so, I first clarify the relationship between the theological claims and its account of moral norms, situating the text within the history of western ethical theory. I then turn to reconstruct the submerged theology of the encyclical, focusing on Pope Francis's accounts of the techno‐economic paradigm and the possibility of an “integral ecology” paradigm. I end by assessing the text in terms of the coherence and plausibility of its argument as an ethical and theological statement.     

Theological and Ethical Reflections on Men and Violence: Toward a New Understanding of Masculinity

Abstract

This paper explores the reasons why men express violence against women, children and other men, suggesting that men's violence represents one of the darkest features of masculinity. The way men are socialized and conditioned requires and produces violent behaviors that are destructive to men themselves as well as to women, children, and the earth. The author proposes the need to re-envision masculinity to enable men and women to create communities in which people are encouraged to participate in ‘adventurous partnering for peace’.     

Beyond Therapy and Enhancement: The Alteration of Human Nature

With the rapid progress and considerable promise of nanobiotechnology/neurosciences there is the potential of transforming the very nature of human beings and of how humans can conceive of themselves as rational animals through technological innovations. The interface between humans and machines (neuro-digital interface), can potentially alter what it means to be human, i.e., the very idea of human nature and of normal functioning will be changed. In this paper, I argue that we are potentially on the verge of a paradigm shift in terms of the ends and goals of techno-science and its applications in the biomedical sciences. In particular, the development of brain-computer interfaces could reconceptualize the very notion of what it means to be human. Hence, we should not limit our reflections of applications in terms of therapy and enhancement but also include an examination of applications aiming at the alteration of human nature. To this end I will first delineate the potential paradigm shift and then map out four distinct clusters of concerns in relation to the brain-computer interface. Finally, I argue that our moral and philosophical reflections should follow a procedural model based on managed consensus due to our pluralistic context.

The Word was Not Made Flesh: Theological Reflections on the Banning of Seksualiti Merdeka 2011

Abstract : In November 2011, the Malaysian sexuality rights festival Seksualiti Merdeka was banned after being labelled immoral and subversive. The organizers insisted that the festival was a forum for the voices of sexual minorities and that the ban was politically motivated. By examining the rhetoric surrounding this festival in the Malaysian media, this article aims to uncover how the tensions between Malaysian politics and religion affect the lives of queer Malaysians in terms of human rights before providing a Christian theological response.     

Pastoral Theological Reflections on Pamela Cooper-White's Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling

This article reviews Pamela Cooper-White's book as an extraordinarily well developed, nuanced, and empirically grounded reflection on the significance of transference and countertransference dynamics in ministry; it also points to several ways in which the book's thesis could be more fully developed theologically and more broadly applied in ministry.     

医疗器械软件设计及应用的伦理考量

通过收集2017年~2021年北京某三甲医院开展的14项医疗器械软件的软件说明书、技术要求和注册检验报告等临床试验资料,从医学伦理的角度对产品的功能和技术标准涉及的共性问题进行分析归纳,重点探讨了医疗器械软件的标准参考情况、数据管理和风险控制措施方面的相关问题,提出了医疗器械软件在设计和使用过程中应当考虑适用范围泛化、预警和交互等可能衍生伦理学问题的因素,加强软件风险管理,从而减少因软件缺陷产生的严重不良事件。

     

Robots and the Sacred in Science and Science Fiction: Theological Implications of Artificial Intelligence

In science-fiction literature and film, human beings simultaneously feel fear and allure in the presence of intelligent machines, an experience that approximates the numinous experience as described in 1917 by Rudolph Otto. Otto believed that two chief elements characterize the numinous experience: the mysterium tremendum and the fascinans. Briefly, the mysterium tremendum is the fear of God's wholly other nature and the fascinans is the allure of God's saving grace. Science-fiction representations of robots and artificially intelligent computers follow this logic of threatening otherness and soteriological promise. Science fiction offers empirical support for Anne Foerst's claim that human beings experience fear and fascination in the presence of advanced robots from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AI Lab. The human reaction to intelligent machines shows that human beings in many respects have elevated those machines to divine status. This machine apotheosis, an interesting cultural event for the history of religions, may—despite Foerst's rosy interpretation—threaten traditional Christian theologies.     

Beyond Eschatology: Environmental Pessimism and the Future of Human Hoping

In much environmentally concerned literature, there is a burgeoning concern for the status and sustainability of human hope. Within Christian circles, this attention has often taken the form of eschatological reflection. While there is important warrant for attention to eschatology in Christian examinations of hope, I claim that to move so quickly from hope to eschatology is to confuse a species of Christian hope for a definition of hope itself; as such, it is important for theological ethicists to examine hope also from the experiential perspective of the human hoper. In particular, this is important today given the shortcomings of an eschatological focus in addressing anxieties arising due to the environmental crisis. Through examining hope as a fallible human activity, one can come to better understand hope's importance to human life, its profound ambiguity, and the potential threat that the environmental crisis poses to it.     

研究者发起的临床研究项目伦理审查现实矛盾与对策思考

通过对我国研究者发起的临床研究项目伦理审查现状进行分析,从研究者发起的临床研究项目伦理审查执行力不强、监管不到位,临床研究设计伦理观念不足以及研究者伦理意识薄弱三个方面入手进行问题剖析。结合相关法规与工作实践,提出了强化卫生行政部门监管职能,加强研究者发起的临床研究项目主管部门监管,包括加强医疗机构伦理监管体系建设、完善伦理委员会标准操作规程、加强研究者伦理培训以及加强伦理宣传普及四个方面对策,以期提高研究者发起的临床研究项目伦理审查质量,促进其更加科学规范开展。     

从伦理辩护到国家权力、个人权利界限的划定——公共卫生领域特殊伦理冲突的和解之道

在流行病防控等公共卫生工作中,为了维护公共健康不得不侵犯传染病患者的个人权利,这是公共卫生领域不同于临床医学的特殊伦理冲突。虽然有学者分别依据“效果论”、“差异原则”和“公共善优先”为公共健康的优先性进行了辩护,但都不能与医学伦理学的个体论视角相融洽。实际上,固守单一的理论视角是伦理冲突和解的最大障碍,只有改变单一视角,才能开启理论的兼容性。伦理辩护必须转化为实践智慧,即必须在公共卫生实践中实现国家权力与个人权利的有序协调,使国家权力和个人权利坚守各自的界限。