Lecture Title - Defining Humanity in an Age of Plasticity
Modern discourse about the human person often emphasizes the extent to which humans are “plastic” and thus capable of being transformed in remarkable ways. Our brains are malleable, we have the technological capacity to reshape our bodies in seemingly countless ways, and even things we once imagined to be relatively stable features of human identity (e.g. sex, gender, and race), are increasingly viewed as subject to change. In this age of pla...
Lecture Title - Defining Humanity in an Age of Plasticity
Modern discourse about the human person often emphasizes the extent to which humans are “plastic” and thus capable of being transformed in remarkable ways. Our brains are malleable, we have the technological capacity to reshape our bodies in seemingly countless ways, and even things we once imagined to be relatively stable features of human identity (e.g. sex, gender, and race), are increasingly viewed as subject to change. In this age of plasticity, it can be difficult to know what we should think about the task of defining what it means to be human, particularly when there are elements in the Christian tradition itself that challenge the idea of a stable and easily identifiable human nature. This paper explores the challenges presented by plasticity and various kinds of “posthumanism,” suggesting that at least some common theological critiques may not be as strong as they seem.
Marc Cortez (PhD University of St. Andrews) is Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and a previous Henry Resident Fellow of The Creation Project. His publications include Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed (T&T Clark, 2010), the T&T Clark Reader in Theological Anthropology (T&T Clark, 2017), and Resourcing Theological Anthropology: A Constructive Account of Humanity in the Light of Christ (Zondervan Academic, 2018).
The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.
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