I recently wrote a book review of "What Is Posthumanism?" by Cary Wolfe. You can read my review in "Curator" magazine. I'm working on part two of my review now: a Christian response. I'll let you know when that's available. But please do take a read and let me know what you think of this profound, and profoundly disturbing, new cultural theory.
1 comment:
Wow, fascinating topic... Happily framed and written, too :)
It all seems like an idea that isn't new in itself, and has a good sort of kindness at its basis- yet could easily hold up a wave of less visible, intensely influential paradigms. It's one of those things that seems to make actually good points about some great flaws of past/current thought; in terms of imagination there's some great material in it. Yet it seems impossible to me that such a view as this, whether taken with full integrity, or according to selfish society, could really do no harm to the particular value of humanity. So much terror comes out of that.
Of course it rings of movements for justice and progress, but the loudest impression is that this wouldn't be the first time such a sense was abused. Am I too cynical, too bruised by history to accept systems with ideals of kindness at their core, without caution? There's certainly a place for Christians to step out from familiar cultural territories into the uncomfortably new, and actually come close to what's been the aim all along. It's important to form our plans with hope. But in the end (not having read it), this book seems perhaps more like a sort of broad ultra-humanism... With some of the good parts better aligned, but also some of the vital things still deeply missing or wrong.
So I'm really interested to see your response to it :)
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