Christ and Transhumanism
Transhumanism asks how technology can help humanity transcend limitation: disease, ignorance, isolation, and death. Some see this as opposed to Christian faith. But a Christian lens reveals deep resonance: the drive toward healing, wisdom, communion, and life is already at the heart of the gospel. Properly ordered, transhumanism can become a work of love that participates in Christ’s renewal of creation.
Resurrection, Not Escape
Christian hope is not disembodied escape but embodied renewal—the resurrection of the body and the restoration of creation. Technologies that extend healthy life, repair the body, restore senses, and overcome fragility anticipate that promise in partial, fallible ways.
- Medicine, biology, and neurotechnology fight the enemies Christ confronted: sickness, exclusion, and despair.
- Cryonics, mind preservation, and longevity research are not resurrection, but they witness to a profound intuition: that death is an enemy to be overcome (1 Cor 15:26).
- We pursue such work humbly, knowing only God raises the dead, yet we cooperate in the present with Christ’s healing mission.
Image of God and Human Vocation
Humans are creators-in-communion: bearers of God’s image called to cultivate and care for the world (Genesis 1–2). Transhumanist projects—when oriented by love—belong within that vocation.
- Tools amplify agency, prudence, and compassion.
- Prosthetics, brain–computer interfaces, and assistive tech extend inclusion and dignity.
- AI and augmentation can serve wisdom, not domination, when yoked to justice and the common good.
The question is not “technology or God,” but “What kind of persons are we becoming as we use technology? Are we conforming to Christ’s character?”
Salvation as Healing and Participation
The New Testament frames salvation as both forgiveness and healing (sozo). It is union with Christ—participation in his life (John 15; 2 Peter 1:4). Technology cannot save us, but our creative labor can become a means through which love acts and healing is extended.
- We reject techno-utopianism and despair alike.
- We pursue courageous, testable progress with humility and repentance.
- We measure success by love of God and neighbor, not by power, novelty, or profit.
Guardrails of Love
Christian engagement with transhumanism requires moral scaffolding:
- Dignity: Every person bears the image of God—no one is disposable.
- Justice: Access must not deepen oppression or exclusion.
- Wisdom: Experiment boldly, test rigorously, revert when harm emerges.
- Community: Technology should strengthen families, friendships, and the poor.
- Hope: We work toward renewal, trusting that Christ is the beginning and end.
Christ at the Center
Christ is not the competitor to human creativity; he is its source and goal. In him, our efforts toward healing and transformation find their telos. Transhumanism, chastened and reoriented by the cross, becomes a way of loving our neighbors—pushing back the curse—while we await the resurrection and the renewal of all things.
The upshot: Christians can engage transhumanist endeavors as acts of hopeful, ethical participation in God’s healing work—seeking longer, fuller, more just lives—not as a replacement for Christ, but as a response to him.
