Phil Hefner, an Evangelical Lutheran minister, described modern humanity as “cyborg” in his lecture, “God’s Created Co-Creator: Interpreting Science, Technology and Theology” at Loyola March 7.The lecture was the first in Loyola’s annual or semi-annual Gerald N. Gaston in Science and Religion, endowed by Loyola alumnus Gerald Gaston and developed by the Rev. James Carter, S.J., as an extension of the common curriculum course “Faith, Science and Religion.”Hefner, a professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, centered his lecture on the two-by-two matrix designed by Penn. State scientist Ruffin Roy. This matrix consisted of science, theology, technology and religion, which Hefner called four realities that intersect human beings.”Science and theology correlated because they are both primarily conceptual frameworks for explaining human experience,” Hefner said. “Technology and religion are concerned with shaping human practice and experience.Hefner said that the term cyborg, a fusion of the organic and the technological, applies not to the emotionless half-robot creatures of the movies but to humanity. Technology has become a part of humanity that affects our lives significantly through pharmacological medicine and other products. Through time, humanity has become the “co-creator” of itself through technology, which “has been ingested by the human spirit and mind,” Hefner said.Hefner called humanity the “created co-creator who is a maker who has been made.” Humans, as products of genetic evolution, have been given one biological object, a brain, which requires both genetics and learning to function.It is the learning aspect, Hefner said, that has led human beings to become cyborg. Therefore, God is the creator of cyborg, and cyborg humanity is God’s created co-creator. “[This] is a part of God’s will for us,” Hefner said. “He created creatures who could create.” Cyborg then embodies the freedom God granted humanity, Hefner said. “What should the created co-creator be doing to glorify the creator?” he said.Hefner also posed questions regarding God’s view of humanity’s transformation, the concept of cyborg created in God’s image and whether Jesus died for cyborg humanity.Carter met Hefner in 1990 when he was on sabbatical at the Zygon Center for Religion and Science in Chicago, where Hefner is director.Hefner is editor in chief of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. He has published six books, one of which, The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture, Religion, won the Templeton “Best Books in Religion and Science” award.Carter said that he had “always had an interest in science and religion” and that Hefner had helped him to “bring that up to speed and become familiar with the literature.”

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