Technofutures, Nature and the Sacred: Transdisciplinary Perspectives

The capacity of human beings to invent, construct and use technical artifacts is a hugely consequential factor in the evolution of society, and in the entangled relations between humans, other creatures and their natural environments. Moving from a critical consideration of theories, to narratives about technology, and then to particular and specific practices, Technofutures, Nature and the Sacred seeks to arrive at a genuinely transdisciplinary perspective focusing attention on the intersection between technology, religion and society and using insights from the environmental humanities. It works from both theoretical and practical contexts by using newly emerging case studies, including geo-engineering and soil carbon technologies, and breaks open new ground by engaging theological, scientific, philosophical and cultural aspects of the technology/religion/nature nexus. Encouraging us to reflect on the significance and place of religious beliefs in dealing with new technologies, and engaging critical theory common in sociological, political and literary discourses, the authors explore the implicit religious claims embedded in technology.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; I: Theories; 1: Human Responsibility for Extra-Human Nature; 2: Technology and the Humanisation of Nature; 3: Artefactualising the Sacred; 4: Technology in a Postnatural Condition? Concepts of Nature and Meanings of Technology 1; II: Religious Narratives; 5: Forbidden Fruit; 6: Technology and Iconography; 7: ‘Millions of Machines are Already Roaring'; 8: The Technologisation of Life; III: Practices; 9: Re-Inventing Homemaking; 10: Redeeming the Climate; 11: Resilience Techniques; 12: Miraculous Engineering and the Climate Emergency; IV: Synthesis; 13: The Twilight of the Machines

About the Author :
Celia Deane-Drummond is Professor in Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Her post is concurrent with the College of Science. She has published numerous single author books and edited volumes such as Future Perfect: God, Medicine and Human Identity (2006); Religion and Ecology in the Public Sphere (2011); and Animals as Religious Subjects: Transdisciplinary Perspectives (2013). Sigurd Bergmann is Professor in Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. His numerous publications include The Ethics of Mobilities (2008); Theology in Built Environments (2009); and Religion, Space and Environment (2014). Bronislaw Szerszynski is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK. His published work on the relation between religion and technology includes Re-Ordering Nature: Theology, Society and the New Genetics (2003) and Nature, Technology and the Sacred (2005). Current research foci include geoengineering and the Anthropocene.

Review :
‘What are we doing to our home, to plants and animals, to the oceans and atmosphere and climate? What are we doing to ourselves? Technofutures covers the terrain but also goes to the heart of the matter: our love affair with technology, its seductive allure, its reductive grip, its relentless drive. Here we find honest writing, disturbing questions, and not a single easy answer. Whether you fancy being a posthuman living in a post-natural world or whether the idea scares the hell out of you, this is a must-read book.’ Ron Cole-Turner, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, USA