Man and Church
Your Body is not Raw Material: The Orthodox Answer to the Age of Human Bioengineering
As biotechnology increasingly promises to ‘improve the design’ of the human body, Orthodox Christianity offers a radically different understanding of what it means to be human- and where the limits of human intervention should lie.
We live in an age of wondrous medical and technological developments. Just a few decades ago it would have seemed impossible to have access to groundbreaking advancements such as CRISPR gene editing, the “cut-and-paste” DNA tool that promises to improve so many lives. Synthetic biology, artificial intelligence and reproductive technology, so many things around us can be seen as great gifts and great tools to have when trying to cure and prevent disease and suffering.
However, it’s never that simple.
When the body becomes a project
From the ‘perfect’ embryo selection to CRISPR gene therapy, neural implants, and the aspirations of transhumanism, it is easy to see how the view of the body has slowly been changing throughout time.
The promise of profit on one side, and of a longer, better, or (dare one dream it) eternal life on Earth on the other, can turn such technologies from mere tools into occasions for abuse and temptation.
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