News & Announcements about the CTA

Meghan O'Gieblyn lost her faith—and found transhumanism. Then she realized that those two things weren't quite as far apart as she first believed.

I love the movie Moana. And, particularly, I love this song—both because it’s a great song, and because it perfectly encapsulates a deep truth about reading scripture, or any kind of story. (Listen to it!) On the surface, the meaning of the so...

<img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="844" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v3V1N-BuMrM/WUXYD2RNUjI/AAAAAAAB_Rw/pjhJg4l5rScOOTQQT3Pu_ZDoDQ-KwJ5cgCLcBGAs/s1600/heaven.jpg" /><br /><br />I love how heaven i...

Superheroes have always served as metaphors for the nuances of human behavior. The starkest dichotomies of these distinctions represent our hopes and fears of what humanity could potentially become through enhanced good or evil. Ironically, suc...

– – What’s up guys? This is Mark Russell with thesingularity.com. It’s been six days with no caffeine and still thinking about Jesus and the second coming and technology and want to comment on 1 Timothy 4:3. So here’s my thought. I think about Jes...

Today marks a year since the Orlando nightclub shooting. On June 12, 2016, a single gunman walked into a Florida nightclub and killed 49 people, wounding 58 others. A few days later, I wrote down some thoughts about what was happening. This is the...

Stephen Hawking may be an extraordinary theoretical physicist and cosmologist, but he is a misguided futurist. The Earth is not going to be destroyed in 100—or even a 1000—years as he predicts. Instead, it is going to be remade into a new creat...

I can really appreciate the idea of us needing each other. Too many times religion says I don’t need you to the rest of the world. Religion tends to look at people on the outside, as do scientists, and in their hearts they think I don’t need you. ...

Christians should be concerned by the recent international March for Science that happened this past April.             CommentsCommentsRelated StoriesStephen Hawking is Wrong About the Future of the EarthPokémon GO Proves that Congress Needs to ...

Top innovator, creative thinker & global strategist, John Nosta interviews The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek on God, Christian Transhumanism & AI for Psychology Today. Read the article HERE.           Related StoriesThe Neohuman Podcast with...

Right now we are seeing the rudimentary functionality of the gospel of Christ move through the net.    The job of bringing people good news is done manually.  One day, Artificial Intelligence will do this work for us. One day I believe technology ...

– The spirit is willing but the flesh is week. My name’s Mark, this is May 6th, with thesingularity.com. Just got done working out, and I was thinking about the idea of what computers are doing. Ray Kurzweil talking about the age of spiritual mach...

Agah Bahari talks with The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek about the Christian Transhumanist Association on The Neohuman Podcast. Hear the full interview HERE           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pastor Who Found God in TechnologyThe Guardi...

I want to say that it has been an honor serving as the Board Chair of the CTA for the past 3 years. This is an organization admittedly still in its infancy, and it rightly means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But its creat...

Writing for The Guardian, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chronicles her personal journey and features a cameo appearance of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek. She writes "After losing her faith, a former evangelical Christian felt adrift in the world. She then fo...

I’ve heard it over and over again, when people are considering some new capabilities or technological power: “This is just a repeat of the Serpent’s lie, You shall be like God!” The reference is to Genesis, where the Serpent tempts Eve by prom...

This is SOOO neat!

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. My name is Mark. Today is April 28th, and this is an encouraging word for you about your identity, and who you are. So I just got done working out, and I was thinking about that verse, Romans 12:2,...

What does Christianity bring to the conversation about humanity’s future? How do we move beyond the selfishness of short-term thinking, and embrace technology as part of the renewal and transformation of all life? Ron Cole-Turner, professor of the...

I just read a great article (below): Ghost in the Cloud Transhumanism’s simulation theology,  by MEGHAN O’GIEBLYN that was published on N+1. _________________ “I DO PLAN TO BRING BACK MY FATHER,” Ray Kurzweil says. He is standing in the anemic lig...

Here…   You want to see where God is moving?    Just watch this. Here is where we are going…

Matthew 11:4-6  Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed...

Is cryonics selfish? What do Harry Potter, transhumanism & religious education have in common? What happens when kids go door-to-door raising money for life extension? Shannon Vyff—Transhumanist, Unitarian Universalist, and author of “21st Cen...

<img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZAr3OUzDrE/WOvC8sl51oI/AAAAAAAB_Ac/az4vXhfbw9w5WxJrDh_ZDkf7WPDXQSVzgCLcB/s1600/lincoln-cannon-mta-2017.jpg" /><br /><br />At the 2017 Conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Associa...

<img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7rhHvnkz0mk/WORiLtkuz1I/AAAAAAAB--4/97O4Hry52BQiAfXpbwARmysGvsG8uYdwwCLcB/s1600/religions-of-the-future.jpg" /><br /><br />In 2007 and 2008, I gave a few presentations in the virtua...

What’s up guys, this is Mark with the singularity.com, and I’ve just been thinking about perspective and computers and God and, man, I’m just excited. I saw Eric Schmidt’s, his comments on artificial intelligence. As a Christian, I’m very excited ...

<img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vb90Qp__6oo/WNDH8Vn6bGI/AAAAAAAB-8o/NyXCgKrcA94NJ5trwVCUY1_RZqMs6GcyACLcB/s1600/lds-evolution.jpg" /><br /><br />The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the la...

How can certainty be a form of idolatry? Why should Christians embrace the humanity of the scriptures? How did an existentialist rant sneak into the Bible? And what does that teach us about faith? Peter Enns joins us to explore all these questions...

Reading scripture is meant to be hard. I don’t mean that it has to be tedious or boring or anger-inducing or something like that. I mean that the meaning is not just floating on the surface, waiting to be scooped off like so much pond scum. No, th...

Can evolution have a purpose? Are we living in an alien zoo? Does the cosmos evolve? Why did Christianity emerge when it did? What is the direction of human society—and are we at a crisis point in history? Best-selling author Robert Wright explore...

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_1e5vPutYA/WMQ54cIr0aI/AAAAAAAB-2s/Vyw33_OFaScLtrtHc21MySyfvyJfM1tswCLcB/s1600/caravaggio-conversion-paul-unseen.jpg" /><br /><br />I envision the role of Mormon Transhumanism in c...

How does religion grapple with transhumanism and radical life extension? What does a theology of Extraterrestrials say about a theology of AI? Is Mind Uploading a rejection of the body, or an affirmation of St Paul's theology of resurrection?

If you could flip a switch and experience more pleasure than you have ever felt in your entire life—would you do it? What if that switch also made you feel incredibly happy and joyful? What if it made you feel contented and successful and accompl...

I’ve recently been rediscovering how truly audacious the biblical vision for humanity is. According to even a cursory reading of the scriptures, humanity is made in the image of God, given charge of the entire world, and called to participate with...

Can a Seventh-Day Adventist be a transhumanist? Robert Walden Kurtz, Adventist pastor and Professor of Philosophy, says yes! Join us as we discuss robots stealing your job, mind-mapping Jesus, the hidden threat of washing machines, zero-sum games,...

Is it possible to be a Presbyterian and a Transhumanist? Rev. Christopher Benek, pastor of a large Presbyterian church, and graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, says yes! Join us as we discuss how AI will participate in God's redemption, ho...

The other day I saw The Lego Batman Movie, a great addition to both the Batman movie franchise, and the Lego movie franchise. It had action, adventure, drama, romance—and more cameos from familiar good guys, bad guys, and ambiguous guys than you c...

I’ve spent my entire life wondering what I would do at certain junctures in history. Would I have followed Jesus—or stood with the Pharisees? Would I have worked against slavery—or argued that it was a necessary evil? Would I have opposed the Nazi...

Johnathan Merritt, writing for The Atlantic, highlights to the work of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as Merritt wrestles with issues surrounding AI and Christianity. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pasto...

I am a Christian, and part of what that means is that I am an heir of an incredibly dense and comprehensive cultural tradition. I would call it a maximal cultural tradition, as it has produced art, music, literature, language, buildings, societies...

Here is what I believe is happening in the world. Accelerating technological change has unleashed an era of unprecedented prosperity, freedom, and opportunity. The necessity of extreme poverty is vanishing in the rear view mirror, the incidence ...

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XjtCA35qNNA/WIvI1QC0B2I/AAAAAAAB9Dc/8euFyrNNlvoZejHirhq4pwHuZUPsmD69QCLcB/s1600/simulated-earth.jpg" /><br /><br />"<a href="https://www.lds.org/music/library/hymns/if-you-could-...

Carli Velocci, of Gizmodo, points to the work of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as she explores various uses of VR in the modern context. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pastor Who Found God in Technology...

Nicholas Korody, writing for the Architect, quotes The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as he investigates what VR will mean for the future of Religion. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pastor Who Found God in T...

In the last few years, a number of different organizations have launched projects to end aging and radically extend human longevity. Google’s Calico Labs is perhaps the most well-known effort, followed by Aubrey De Grey’s SENS foundation—but many ...

Christianity is the assertion that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Of course, when we talk about love, all kinds of ideas come to mind, from romance to hippies to powerful feelings about ice cream. (And by the way, if you don’t ...

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pJH45OaOnYg/WHGGwHvmNyI/AAAAAAAB8tA/j53j04vMyC8-42T5Qxt-zRtH1ZOH5DWvwCLcB/s1600/little-lincoln-byu-dorm.jpg" /><br /><br />Implicitly, I’ve been a <a href="http://lincoln.metacan...

This Fall I taught a Bible class at my local church, along with Kyle Creamer, Nate Underwood, Emily Stutzman Jones (Lipscomb’s Director of Sustainability), Rob Touchstone (founder of the Well Coffeehouse), Tim Catchim (creator of OneLife Ministrie...

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gh9zABU0gRo/WF7kAUZNO1I/AAAAAAAB8kI/ee-kEPg9r9Mid0feRqcj4mVESWuvViPTwCLcB/s1600/girls-consoling-scripture.jpg" /><br /><br />Jesus has many titles and corresponding roles, most nota...

Raised by atheists, now a theologian and philosopher, Philip Clayton joins us to discuss the messy world between doubt and belief, feeling stuck in Christianity, and being okay with unanswered questions.

At the beginning of last year, I inadvertently found myself listening to an interview with self-help guru Tony Robbins. That interview made me curious, and pretty soon I had listened to several interviews, a 20-hour full-length audiobook, and a co...

In the movie Elysium, some people live in a paradise city in the sky, while…(can you guess the next part?)…some people live in a hell on earth. I bet you could have guessed the second part even if I hadn’t told you. Why? Because you know this sto...

Katharine Hayhoe shares her unexpected journey to becoming an evangelical Christian climate scientist, discusses evidence for climate change, and explains why working to solve our climate problems doesn't mean "Big Government!". We explore optimis...

In the ancient world, leprosy was incredibly unclean—if you had it, you were not simply unhealthy, you were cast out of society. For you to touch anyone was to risk contaminating them. You had to live on the outskirts of town, shouting “unclean! u...

<img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaRLHyBePlQ/WDuPB8NTixI/AAAAAAAB77k/5K-NfM8GZEYcakoXndoetjRKWz0lKRDaQCLcB/s1600/christian.jpg" /><br /><br />The Bible teaches Christian Transhumanism. Or, in other words, as presen...

Greg Boyd on how God enters the cosmic dance through Science, Scripture, and Us. We explore faith & doubt, quantum physics & relativity, Christ-shaped politics, and the hard parts of the Bible!

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HtEeXW1U9PY/WBQdGNJd2UI/AAAAAAAB7ow/ZyqPQX1C_jkvSAZyrI60aCvKvKLaZCsLgCLcB/s1600/marionette.jpg" /><br /><br />Spencer, my oldest son, recently completed training to be a missionary ...

Genesis vs the Babylonians, Eastern Orthodoxy vs American Fundamentalism, theosis vs playing god, and why early Christians kept talking about the 8th day of the week.

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DCcYTTIW2X8/WAUGfyn7-CI/AAAAAAAB7jU/dHGVFwPqz780VwKN4-39o57yJpVslxeaQCLcB/s1600/timothy-killian.jpg" /><br /><br />Timothy Killian authored a critique of the <a href="https://new...

The Bible is a rap battle! How to read the Bible like Jesus did, how to wrestle with the hard parts, and how the scientific method can make us better Christians.

How to lose your religion, disrupt your life, and become a skeptic with faith! Science Mike describes his faith journey, and discusses brain science, space exploration, cryonics, and the oceanification of Miami.

Back in March, I had the privilege of speaking at a TEDx event in the Cayman Islands. My topic? We all live in the developing world. The idea is simple. When we say “the developed world”, it suggests that our society is already finished—that ...

Why do some people believe it's all determined, and others believe it's up to us? Religious or irreligious, scientist or non-scientist, transhumanist or singularitarian—people can't agree on this subject. We look to CS Lewis, Ghostbusters, the Bea...

We often encounter new things in very different ways. Sometimes, new things are terrifying—even demonic. Sometimes, new things are freedom. Talking to Emily the other day, I was struck by how quickly we can switch between these responses. I remem...

I have often thought about the way we define ‘death’. When is someone actually dead? At one point in time, we defined death as the point when someone’s heart stopped beating. Now, we define death as the cessation of brain activity. But even “...

This is part of a series on a Minimum Viable Theology. The idea is to see if we can construct a minimal theological starter kit, using only reasonable assumptions. The first entry is about why good wins. You should start there. The Theistic Premi...

One of the reasons that science has been widely regarded as an atheistic enterprise over the years, is that for quite a while now, it has preached a future of relentless annihilation. Ever since the laws of thermodynamics were formulated, the out...

For quite a while now, I’ve been suffering through something I might call abstraction angst. It’s hard to describe to those who haven’t experienced it, but you might get a little of the flavor if you imagine working at a bank, handling thousands a...

What does physics say about the ultimate future? Professor Tipler explains the Omega Point Theory, how life can exist all the way to the end of time, and what Christianity has to say about all of this.

If you, like me, grew up in a “Bible-believing church”, one thing that might have been discussed is the question of what role women could play in church services. You might have been told, for example, that the Bible clearly teaches women to be si...

When I was 12, I began to wonder whether I was becoming an atheist. I couldn’t tell, of course, because while I knew I was exploring things that had turned other people into atheists, I didn’t know whether they inevitably led people into atheism, ...

A few months ago, I gave a talk entitled “The Infinite Resurrection” at the annual conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. The MTA are always great hosts, and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the other speakers. ...

Amy and Micah tackle self-driving cars, the rise of nomadic culture, how stories create technology, and why animated GIFs are saving the world.

What's Inevitable, and what we get to choose? Micah Redding and Kevin Kelly discuss rapidly approaching technological change, the advent of Artificial Intelligence, and how technology challenges and illuminates our understanding of God, faith, and...

The other day, I explored the story of Genesis, and its perplexing account of the corruption of mankind through the knowledge of good and evil. I tried to unpack some of the overlooked dynamics of the story, to get at what it is telling us about h...

The deep challenges of losing your faith community, questioning your own beliefs, and dealing with the difficult process of building a new world.

Where are our hoverboards? Our flying cars? Where is the future we were promised? Micah and Amy go Back to the Future, just in time to get this episode out six months late!

The other day I posted a hypothesis I was working on, and stirred up some wide-ranging discussion on Twitter. After a while, this kind of thing becomes difficult to squeeze into 140-character chunks, so I thought I would unpack my thinking a bit m...

Paul Wallace talks about the exhilaration and vertigo of living in expanding cosmos, and how this both humbles us, and helps us rise to the challenge of suffering.

What if someone cloned Jesus, to kickstart the second coming? What if fringe religious groups USED science for a change? Christian Piatt explains his religious sci-fi thriller, and tackles thorny questions in science, faith, and progressive spirit...

Micah and Amy venture into the forbidden world of transhumanist political commentary, while Micah keeps trying to change the subject to almost anything else, including Alien Death Stars, Greek tragedies, time travel, and the first Christian heresy.

Micah and Amy discuss the disruptiveness of the Singularity, the creepiness of robots, the awesomeness of superheroes, and the importance of origin stories.

Micah Redding talks to Adam Ericksen about Rene Girard, the mechanisms of violence, and how Jesus unravels the ancient cycle of myth and scapegoating.

Micah Redding & Thomas Jay Oord talk about free will, predestination, and the open-ended future of God - and explore deep questions about miracles, science, and recent blockbuster movies.

Micah Redding talks to Liz Parrish, the first human to be given gene therapy to reverse aging. Micah & Liz discuss risk-taking, the potential issues with life extension, and what happens if this treatment becomes available to the world.

Micah Redding and Dr. Steve Fuller discuss SPACE ARKS, the meaning of faith, the risk-taking nature of science, and why the future of politics isn't about left and right.

Micah & Amy discuss whether transhumanism is just an apologetic for capitalism, what will drive the economies of the future, and how Christians need to get out and play more…even if it means finding yourself mixed up in a plot to overthrow Hit...

Micah Redding & James Hughes explore cyber-Buddhism, religious transhumanism, and the longevity dividend, covering topics like Universal Basic Income, the Christian theology of personal identity, and the importance of a powerful vision for the...

In this episode, Micah Redding and Amy Gaskin talk about radical life extension.

In this episode, Micah Redding and Amy Gaskin start talking about practicality, and then end up discussing Joseph Campbell, Harry Potter, transcendence, and speculative theology. Don't worry, it's all connected.

In this episode, Micah Redding and Amy Gaskin talk about doomsday!

In this first episode, Micah Redding and Amy Gaskin ask the question 'What is Transhumanism?', and then go on to explore the landscape at the intersection of Christianity and Transhumanist thought.

After 2 years, and 3 rounds of peer review, my landmark global Delphi for 2030 has been published. See the URL link to: Gary, J. E., & von der Gracht, H. A. (2015, August). The future of foresight professionals: Results from a global Delphi s...

I will teach a one-day master course at the World Future Society this summer to precede their annual conference. I am calling it the Foresight Educator's BootCamp.

Recently I was asked me to develop a course that anyone could take on "how to think like a futurist." What emerged was a 16-week elective, A&S 392: Contemporary Futurist Thought: From H.G. Wells to Ray Kurzweil.

Religious imagination first re-framed our quest toward tomorrow. Can it still move us in the twenty-first century to recreate our worlds?

Thank you for visiting JayGary.com. I created this site to help you reframe your future based on my latest papers, workshops, consulting, and features.

Forty years ago, America was gripped by Future Shock, so claimed Alvin Toffler. Are we seeing the eclipse of Future Shock as a younger, more adaptable workforce comes into its own?  Future Shock was a book released in 1970, but it was also an idea...

In the fall of 2011 I conducted a Real-time Delphi survey with members of Empowered21, entitled: "Outlook 2020: The future of Spirit-empowered Christianity."

Based on more than a decade of management consulting, in 2003 I formed PeakFutures as a firm to offer foresight training, research and assessments for teams and organizations.

This paper views Sardar’s postnormal times as embryonic, and extends it using ecosystems theory. To develop Sardar's concept as a macrohistory, Holling's adaptive cycle and panarchical systems are proposed as mechanisms of change that create postn...

What has occupied your executive team’s attention the past three years? Chances are you have been restructuring departments or reengineering core programs for immediate gain, rather than regenerating your strategies or reinventing your organizatio...