ABSTRACT

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.

part I|65 pages

Theories

chapter 1|14 pages

Human Responsibility for Extra-Human Nature

An Ethical Approach to Technofutures

chapter 2|16 pages

Technology and the Humanisation of Nature

New Resources for Critical Assessment

chapter 3|20 pages

Artefactualising the Sacred

Restating the Case for Martin Heidegger's ‘Hermeneutical’ Philosophy of Technology

part II|75 pages

Religious Narratives

chapter 5|16 pages

Forbidden Fruit

Wonder, Religious Narrative and the Quest for the Atomic Bomb

chapter 6|16 pages

Technology and Iconography

Minding the logoi

chapter 7|24 pages

‘Millions of Machines are Already Roaring'

Fetishised Technology Encountered by the Life-Giving Spirit

chapter 8|18 pages

The Technologisation of Life

Theology and the Trans-Human and Trans-Animal Narratives of the Post-Animal

part III|81 pages

Practices

chapter 9|16 pages

Re-Inventing Homemaking

A Necessary and Ethical Means of Production in a Post-Growth, Ecologically Sustainable Economy

chapter 10|18 pages

Redeeming the Climate

Investigating a Theological Model of Geoengineering

chapter 11|26 pages

Resilience Techniques

Spiritual Practices and Customary Economics within Farming Communities in Amanbaev Village, Kyrgyzstan

chapter 12|20 pages

Miraculous Engineering and the Climate Emergency

Climate Modification as Divine Economy

part IV|19 pages

Synthesis