NT Wright explains why we don't want to go to Heaven, points us toward medical technology as a sign of the Kingdom, and clears up our biggest misconceptions about the apostle Paul.

“If we were to scour the first century for people who were hoping that their souls would leave the present material world behind and go to heaven, we would discover Platonists like Plutarch, not Christians like Paul.” <-- (click to tweet)

“The rise of medical technology over the last two or three hundred years is one of the great success stories of science.” <-- (click to tweet)

Robin Hanson explores a future of robotic human uploads, helps us worry about The Great Filter, gives us strategies for living in a Simulation, and casually points out the Elephant in the Brain.

Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate of the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is the author of The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth and
The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life, with co-author Kevin Simler.

(Watch the video of this conversation)

See Aubrey de Grey live at the first ever Christian Transhumanist Conference on August 25th, 2018—in Nashville, TN!

Aubrey de Grey pioneers anti-aging research, answers your questions about the future this is leading to, and explains why not working to defeat aging would be a sin.

Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist, the founder & Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation, editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research, and author of the book Ending Aging.

“Ageing is, simply and clearly, the accumulation of damage in the body. That's all that ageing is.” <-- click to tweet

“If changing our world is playing God, it is just one more way in which God made us in His image.” <-- click to tweet

David Deutsch explains the physics of humanity’s profound place in the cosmos—and our potentially unlimited future.

David Deutsch is an Oxford Physicist, a pioneer in the field of Quantum Computing, the founder of Constructor Theory, and the author of the books The Fabric of Reality, and The Beginning of Infinity.

“The one advantage that good has over evil…is that the bad guys are wrong” — David Deutsch (click to tweet!)

“Wayward teenagers are also AIs” — David Deutsch (click to tweet!)

Meghan O'Gieblyn lost her faith—and found transhumanism. Then she realized that those two things weren't quite as far apart as she first believed.

“But people who’ve gotten that far into the faith never totally shake it. To be a former believer is to perpetually return to the scene of the crime.” — Megan O'Gieblyn

(click to tweet)

What does Christianity bring to the conversation about the future of humanity? How do we move beyond the selfishness of short-term thinking, and embrace technology as part of the renewal and transformation of all life? Ron Cole-Turner, professor of theology and ethics, and author of numerous books on transhumanism and human origins, joins us to explore these questions.

Ron Cole-Turner is the Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion, and has served on the advisory board of the John Templeton Foundation and the Metanexus Institute

"After all, almost no one objects to the idea that human beings should strive to enhance or improve themselves."

"And to say that religion, Christianity in particular, also endorses at least some form of human enhancement is an understatement in the extreme."

"The distinction in theology is between redemption and glorification, between God redeeming humanity by restoring us to an original state from which we have fallen and glorifying or transforming us far above any original status. The bioethics distinction that is similar, and perhaps related historically, is of course the one between therapy and enhancement. Redemption and therapy are both aimed at restoring what was (or what should be regarded as a “normal” state, even if it never actually existed), whereas glorification and enhancement take us far beyond toward something completely new."

"The main point, however, is that human transformation is central to Christian thought, and thus it affects the way in which Christian theology understands not just the character but the very being of God as triune and as capable of entering into and taking up the human condition, thereby transforming it beyond all human expectation."

Is cryonics selfish? What do Harry Potter, transhumanism, and religious education have in common? What happens when kids go door-to-door raising money for life extension? Shannon Vyff—Transhumanist, Cryonicist, Unitarian Universalist, and author of “21st Century Kids“, and “The Scientific Conquest of Death”—discusses all these questions and more!

How can certainty be a form of idolatry? Why should Christians embrace the humanity of the scriptures? How did an existentialist rant sneak into the Bible? And what does that teach us about faith? Peter Enns joins us to explore all these questions and more!

Peter Enns is an biblical scholar and theologian, and Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. He has taught at Princeton, Harvard, and Westminster Theological Seminary, and is the author of books such as "Inspiration and Incarnation", "The Evolution of Adam", "The Sin of Certainty", and recently, "The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It"

Can evolution have a purpose? Are we living in an alien zoo? Does the cosmos evolve? Why did Christianity emerge when it did? What is the direction of human society—and are we at a crisis point in history? Best-selling author Robert Wright explores all these questions and more.

Robert Wright is a journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author of best-selling books about science, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory.

How does religion grapple with transhumanism and radical life extension? What does a theology of Extraterrestrials say about a theology of AI? Is Mind Uploading a rejection of the body, or an affirmation of St Paul's theology of resurrection?

Dr Calvin Mercer is the Professor of Religious Studies at East Carolina University, the founder of the American Academy of Religion's “Transhumanism and Religion” Group, and the author of 7 books.