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Embodiment in a Digital World

Ethics of the Body Electric

Embodiment in a Digital World cover

Embodiment in a Digital World

Ethics of the Body Electric

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Pre-order. Available 15 Apr 2027
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Description

How has digital technology shaped our understanding of embodiment, particularly in relation to race, sex, sexuality, and gender?

Digital technology has permeated every aspect of our lives, reshaping how we interact, communicate, and express our identities. This volume tackles the repercussions of this permeation from a theological perspective. It bridges Christian theological reflection, digital research, and ethical analysis, focusing on how digital technology effects the construction and expression of sexuality and gender.

Ott and Symmonds lead a range of scholars, with expertise in digital and sexual ethics, to engage social theory, feminist, womanist and queer theological approaches. Chapters adopt an intersectional approach using tools of social analysis to pay close attention to issues such as the impact of digital participation and world making on human relationships, racial bias, and identity performance.

Ultimately, this book critiques western Christian traditions that denigrate sexual and gender diversity limiting liberative exploration of the influence of digitality on embodiment and intimacy and how AI and robotics effect human morality. This includes a fascinating discussion of the ethics of digital pornography and sex work, engaging with political, cultural, and theological implications.

This work is an interdisciplinary effort to unpack the complex relationship between Christianity, technology, sexuality, gender, and social ethics.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Nicole S. Symmonds and Kate Ott

Part I Embodiment and Digital Space

1. Digital Orality: African Spirituality and Embodiment Katleho Mokoen (University of South Africa, South Africa)
2. Culture, Faith, and the Digital Closet in Aotearoa New Zealand (Michael J. Toy, Moravian University, USA)
3. Digital Black Queer Antagonism: Embodied responses to Burrell's-“Let God be True Quickly” (Shatavia L. Wynn, Davidson College, USA)
4. Becoming Part of Each Other's Bodies: Smartphones, Social Media, and the Digital Embodiment of Gender (Max Thornton, Independent Scholar, USA)

Part II: Expanding Gender and Sexuality Domains through Technology

5. Blessing Together: Collaborative Co-Intelligence for Embodied Communication and Care in Religious Automation (Pauline Hope Cheong, Arizona State University, USA)
6. Sex, Robots, and AI Pleasure Maps (Alexis S. Dunbar, Iliff School of Theology & University of Denver, USA; Philip Butler, Iliff School of Theology, USA)
7. The Ethics of Online Gender Play: Embodiment, Masculinity, and Gaming (Kate Ott, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA)
8. Queering the Metaverse with Haraway's Cyborg: Imagining Ethical Futures (Anna Puzio University of Bern, Switzerland & University of Vienna, Austria)

PART III Ethics for the Body Electric

9. AI, Deepfake Pornography, and Women's Well-Being (Karen Peterson-Iyer, Santa Clara University, USA)
10. On Earth as It is in Heaven: Toward an Eschatological Theology of Digital Embodiment (Nicole S. Symmonds, Columbia Theological Seminary, USA)
11. Congruence in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Theological Reflections on Empathy and Embodiment in E-Therapy (Scott Midson, University of Manchester, UK)
12. The Cyborg: Homo Oeconomicus to Homo Eroticus (Rachel Joyce Marie O. Sanchez, Columbia Theological Seminary, USA; Justin Joseph G. Badion, Manila University, Philippines)

Product details

Published 15 Apr 2027
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Pages 224
ISBN 9780567729743
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Series T&T Clark Enquiries in Embodiment, Sexuality, and Social Ethics
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Kate Ott

Kate Ott is Jerre and Mary Joy Stead Professor of…

Anthology Editor

Nicole Symmonds

Nicole Symmonds is Assistant Professor of Christia…

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