Victoria Lorrimar

Books

Science Fiction and Christian Theology, Cambridge Elements in Christianity and Science, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2024.

Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, 2022.

This book explores anthropologies of co-creation as a theological response to the questions posed by technologically enhanced humans. I argue that the imagination offers a fruitful starting point for a theological engagement with these envisioned technological futures, approaching the topic under the purview of a doctrine of creation that affirms a relationship between human and divine creativity. Traditionally, theological treatments of creativity have been almost exclusively applied to artistic endeavours - this work extends such theological accounts to include technology, and unites them with the strengths of scientific accounts of co-creation. I draw on metaphor studies, cognitive sciences, and literary studies to develop a constructive theological anthropology, and finally apply this framework to various enhancement scenarios.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Going Beyond the Anxiety-Awe Spectrum by Putting the Human Back into Artificial Intelligence”, American Religion 5(1), 2023:111-117.

“Does an Inkling Belong in Science and Religion? Human Consciousness, Epistemology and the Imagination”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 57(1), 2022: 244-266.

“Science and Religion: Moving Beyond the Credibility Strategy”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 55(3), 2020: 812-823.

“Creatures Bound for Glory: Biotechnological Enhancement and Visions of Human Flourishing” (co-authored with Michael Burdett), Studies in Christian Ethics 32(2), 2019: 241-253.

“Mind-Uploading and Embodied Cognition: A Theological Response”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 54(1), 2019: 191-206.

“Human Flourishing, Joy, and the Prospect of Radical Life Extension”, The Expository Times 129 (12), 2018: 554-561.

“The Scientific Character of the Created Co-Creator”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 52 (3), 2017: 726-746.

“Are Scientific Research Programmes Applicable to Theology? On Philip Hefner’s Use of Lakatos”, Theology and Science 15 (2), 2017: 188-202.

“Church and Christ in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas”, Ecclesiology 11, 2015: 306-326.

Book Chapters

“Human Technological Enhancement and Transhumanism” (co-authored with Michael Burdett) in The Oxford Handbook of Theological Anthropology, ed. Jens Zimmermann, Michael Burdett and Ashley Moyse (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2024).

“Theological Anthropology” in The T & T Clark Encyclopaedia of Christian Doctrine, ed. Christa McKirland (T & T Clark, forthcoming 2024).

“Science and Religion Themes in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust: Sin and Evolution, Panpsychism, and the Dangers of ‘Single Vision’” in Science and Religion in Western Literature: Critical and Theological Studies, ed. Michael Fuller (Routledge, 2022).

“Imagining Human Futures: Co-creation and Technological Enhancement” in Emerging Voices in Science and Theology, ed. Bethany Sollereder and Alister McGrath (Routledge, 2022).

“The Future of Humanity” in The Robot Will See You Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith, ed. John Wyatt and Stephen N. Williams (SPCK, 2021).

“Stanley Hauerwas: Witnessing Communities of Character” in Generous Orthodoxies: The History and Future of Ecumenical Theology, ed. P. Peterson (Pickwick Publications, 2020).

“Human Uniqueness and Technology: Are We Co-Creators with God?” in Issues in Science and Theology: Are We Special?, eds. M. Fuller, D. Evers, A. Runehov and K. Saether (Springer, 2017).

Edited works

Guest editor (with Michael Burdett), Theology and Science, special issue on “Biotechnological Enhancement and the imago Dei” (including editorial), 16(3), 2018:247-250.

Guest editor (with Michael Burdett), Studies in Christian Ethics, special issue on “Theological Reflections on Human Biotechnological Enhancement” (including editorial), 32(2), 2019: 149-151.