‘Just who do you think you are? Holloway asks in annual Maston Lectures – Baptist Standard

March 30, 2017 By Marv Knox / Editor

ABILENEJust who do you think you are? is a more important question than people often realize, theologian Jeph Holloway insisted during the annual T.B. Maston Lectures at Hardin-Simmons Universitys Logsdon Seminary.

Holloway, professor of theology, philosophy and Christian ethics at East Texas Baptist University, delivered the lectures named for the late Maston, a leading Baptist ethicist who taught generations of pastors and missionaries to apply the Christian faith to everyday living.

How people answer who they think they arethe core of human identityis increasingly vital, Holloway said. Thats because escalating advances in technology tempt some people to think in terms of posthuman existence, he explained.

What if technology set its sights on erasing all vestiges of human limitation, even to the point of slaying death itself? he asked. Perhaps it sounds too sci-fi to entertain the notion that we will through our advancing technologies discover the holy grail of eternal life , but that is precisely the agenda of what goes by the name posthumanism.

Young Maston Scholars from across Texas gathered at Hardin-Simmons University for Logsdon Seminarys annual T.B. Maston Lectures. The scholars are (top row, from left) Nathan Rogers, East Texas Baptist University; Adam Jones, Howard Payne University; Jeffrey Vera, Wayland Baptist University; Casey Easterwood, Wayland Baptist University; Rafael Cardoza, East Texas Baptist University; Evan Horne, Houston Baptist University; Andrew Wittmeier, Houston Baptist University; (middle row) Andrew Tague, Dallas Baptist University; Kyle Backhus, Dallas Baptist University; Hogan Herritage, Baylor University; Leah Reed, Baylor University; Masyn Evans, Hardin-Simmons University; (front row) Katie Earles, Hardin-Simmons University; Caitlin Alexander, Howard Payne University; Maddie Rarick, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; and Laura Ellis, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Not pictured: Jhon Mora, Baptist University of the Amricas, and Edith Franco Baptist University of the Amricas. (HSU photo by Kimber Beam)In the first of two lectures, Holloway traced the technological journey toward posthumanism.

Ultimate prize

Posthumanists are on a quest for limitless intellectual power, indefinite youth and vitality, and absolute control over emotions and consciousness, he said. Those goals are theoretically attainable through increasingly sophisticated and powerful bio- and computer technologies.

The ultimate prize is the transformation of humans from our present frail, risky and mortal condition into something beyond the limitation of death, he noted.

Posthumanists who take their philosophy to its logical conclusioncalled Humanity-plus or H+see death as the primary enemy and offer several proposals to defeat death, he said.

Biological immortality seeks to protect the human body by editing genes to enable people to live longer and healthier. However, even genetically engineered bodies can fall to hazards and wounds and injuries.

Cybernetic immortality would replace defective or damaged flesh and blood with artificial components, such as synthetic blood vessels, skin and body parts. Tiny robots, nanobots, would be injected to repair or replace diseased organs. But parts can wear out, and accidents or malicious acts can interfere.

The ultimate proposal, then, is virtual immortality, in which the essential self of the mind is up-loaded into an environment made suitable through developments in artificial intelligence, Holloway said.

Common enchantment

Evaluating the benefits and perils of technology is difficult for Christians because the religion of technology has become our common enchantment, and Christians join others in society in expecting ultimate salvation through technology, he said, citing historian David Noble.

Christian critique of the H+ agenda will have to admit to our own eager and sometimes uncritical reliance on technology, and evaluation of posthumanism technologies might expose our own idolatry, he admitted.

In his follow-up lecture, Holloway acknowledged, We do need to ask, though, if our awe and wonder at innovative technologies might breed an allegiance and loyalty, a set of expectations and hopes that none of our (technological) devices deserve.

The Apostle Pauls letter to the Ephesians offers several resources for resistance to the claims and assumptions of the H+ agenda, he suggested.

First, posthumanism assumes there is no fixed or given human nature, but only the malleable and subject, to be defined or redefined as inclination directs or technology permits, he said.

Genuine transformation

While Christian faith shares with posthumanism the insistence that the current state of the human condition is less than ideal, Ephesians clearly assumes the necessity of and the possibility for genuine transformation, he said.

That transformation does not generate from human imagination or technical possibility, but rather comes about through a renewal of your mind by the Holy Spirit, he noted.

Second, H+ assumes no difference between human and non-human, blurring any lines of distinction between human existence and any technological substrate into which we might transfer ourselvesa receiver for an up-loadable mind, Holloway observed.

In Ephesians, Pauls account of Gods ultimate purpose places humanity with a plan for all things to be united in Christ, he said. But Paul also alludes to Psalm 8, which reflects on the role God has given to humans as agents of divine rule.

Pauls gospel offers the fulfillment of humanitys purpose for the sake of creation, neither the abolition of man nor the disparagement of creation, he said.

Also, posthumanism assumes a loss of telos or human purpose and assertion of the sovereignty of the individual will. In Ephesians, however, Paul presents a clarified emphasis, Holloway said.

Regarding purpose, it is hard to go through any paragraph in Ephesians without noting something of what God intends for those who are called to walk worthy of the calling, he contended. He cited seven examples as a partial list that illustrates Paul insists our lives are to be embraced within a will other than our own and a purpose larger than personal inclination.

Basic problem

Focusing on sovereign will, Holloway noted, We need to understand that what H+ offers as the solution to the human condition, an absolute autonomy that sheds the limits of creaturely existence, Paul describes as its basic problem.

Ephesians also offers a strong alternative to posthumanism because Christianitys tenor and tone is thanksgiving, he said.

This prison letter written by an ambassador in chains overflows with the language of praise, blessing and thanksgiving for the riches of Gods mercy, he noted. This stands in fundamental contrast to the dystopic tone of Humanity +.

While the embodied Paul in prison is able to see a wider reality beyond that which appears to hold over us the power of death, posthumanism can only see the prison of our bodies and is held captive by its fear of death.

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'Just who do you think you are? Holloway asks in annual Maston Lectures - Baptist Standard