“What a piece of work is man!” mused Hamlet. The paradox of humanity’s glory and shame, potential for both great good and astounding evil, has long excited philosophers and artists alike. But as AI gets foisted on society with the promise of supposedly replacing the need for humans in a whole array of areas, what is it that makes us truly distinctive, whether from other animals or from machines?
I sat down with my old friend Andrew Fellows, an Anglican minister, writer, speaker and former director of L’Abri Fellowship England (see English L'Abri - News and Updates) to explore being human in an age of disenchantment, and what it might mean to re-enchant humanity.
I started out listening to Andrew’s lectures from L’Abri as a student 20 years ago, which sowed many of the seeds of my current thinking about imagination and spirituality, including getting me thinking about symbols and sacraments, disenchantment and re-enchantment, and introducing me to many different thinkers from Pascal to Owen Barfield.
I later had the chance to get to know Andrew personally, especially as editor at IVP on his book Smuggling Jesus Back Into The Church, and really value his insights into culture, faith and society.
Andrew’s latest book Humanity Matters, out now from Inter-Varsity Press, argues that our culture has lost a high view of humanity, with various forms of reductionism, whether as “hardware” (we are just our genes) or “software” (we are just socially constructed beings). We dig into the rise of techno-humanism and transhumanism, the case for the soul, and how Christianity offers a richer alternative. Along the way we get into Ozark, Station Eleven, free will, video games and what a renewed Christian humanism might look like.
Chapters
00:46 Welcome and introducing Andrew01:50 Why what it means to be human matters 03:19 The Disenchantment Thesis 06:47 Hardware vs. Software Views of Humanity 10:54 The Dangers of Transhumanism 12:33 The Case for the Soul 16:52 Imago Dei and Human Identity 9:28 Recovering Christian Humanism 22:12 Why humanism begins at church 24:36 Can humanism survive without Christianity? 28:05 Freedom, Determinism, and the Digital Age 34:52 Holding Glory and Fallenness Together 38:29 Upcoming Work and Closing Thoughts
Links
* Humanity Matters by Andrew Fellows (IVP)
* Smuggling Jesus Back Into The Church by Andrew Fellows (IVP)
* Andrew’s talks in the L’Abri Idea Library
* Andrew’s talks at Forum of Christian Leaders
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