THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARY: BRINGING MYTH AND IMAGINATION INTO DIALOGUE WITH BRONISLAW SZERSZYNSKI'S NATURE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE SACRED

Michael W. DeLashmutt; Michael W. DeLashmutt

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2006.00778.x

Abstract

Bronislaw Szerszynski's Nature, Technology and the Sacred (2005) offers a fresh look into the historical, cultural, and political implications of technology use in our contemporary situation. By challenging the standard interpretation of the secularization thesis, the book opens the door to a new kind of postmodern ordering of the sacred, which includes our ever‐developing perception of the environment and our ongoing use of technology. In my discussion of the text, I suggest that Szerszynski's argument could have been furthered by exploring the role played by both imagination and myth in creating the postmodern sacred that he describes. I argue that by giving consideration to Friedrich Dessauer's Christian theology of technology and the mythical imagination of contemporary science fiction literature and film, a more explicitly religious dimension of technology can be allowed to emerge in the form of the technological imaginary.

Keywords

science fiction, imagination, invention, Friedrich Dessauer, technology, Nature, Technology and the Sacred, Michel Foucault, philosophy of technology, inventiveness, secularization, myth, Bronislaw Szerszynski

How to Cite

DeLashmutt, M., (2006) “THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARY: BRINGING MYTH AND IMAGINATION INTO DIALOGUE WITH BRONISLAW SZERSZYNSKI'S NATURE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE SACRED ”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 41(4), 801–810. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2006.00778.x

Rights

Download

References

DeLashmutt, Michael W.2006. “A Better Life through Information Technology? The Techno‐Theological Eschatology of Posthuman Speculative Science. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 41 (June): 267–88.

Dessauer, Friedrich. [1927] 1972. “Technology in Its Proper Sphere ”. In Philosophy and Technology: Readings in the Philosophical Problems of Technology, ed. CarlMitcham and RobertMackey, 317–35. London : Free Press.

Foucault, Michel. [1975] 1994. The Birth of the Clinic. New York : Vintage.

Foucault, Michel. [1977] 1995. Discipline and Punish. New York : Vintage.

Foucault, Michel. [1984] 1988. The History of Sexuality. New York : Vintage.

Fuller, Michael. 1995. Atoms and Icons. London : Mowbray.

Gauchet, Marcel. [1985] 1999. The Disenchantment of the World. Princeton : Princeton Univ. Press.

Gibson, William. 1986. Neuromancer. New York : Bantam.

Gibson, William. 1988. Mona Lisa Overdrive. New York : Bantam.

Gibson, William. 2004. “An Interview with William Gibson. http://www.butseriously.com/gibson.htm .

Heidegger, Martin. [1927] 1996. Being and Time: A Translation of Sein un Zeit. New York : SUNY Press.

Kapp, Ernst. 1877. Grundlinien Einer Philosophie Der Technik. Westermann : Braunschweig.

Milbank, John. 1990. Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. Oxford : Basil Black‐well.

Mitcham, Carl. 1994. Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Ricoeur, Paul. 1967a. Husserl: An Analysis of His Phenomenology. Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, ed. JohnWild. Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern Univ. Press.

ed. JohnWild. Evanston1967b. Symbolism of Evil. Trans. Emerson Buchanan. Boston : Beacon.

Steiner, George. 2002. Grammars of Creation. New Haven : Yale Univ. Press.

Szerszynski, Bronislaw. 2005. Nature, Technology and the Sacred. Oxford : Blackwell.

Szerszynski, Bronislaw. 2006. “Techno‐Demonology: Naming, Understanding and Redeeming the a/Human Agencies with Which We Share Our World. Ecotheology 11:57–75.

Telotte, J. P.2001. Science Fiction Film. Genres in American Cinema, ed. BarryKeith Grant. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press.

Tillich, Paul. 1964. Systematic Theology. Vol. III. Digswell Place, Welwyn , Herts , England : James Nisbet.

White, Lynn. 1967. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis. Science 155:1203–07.

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Download

22

30

3

References

Share

Authors

Download

Issue

Publication details

Dates

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Download

22

30

3

References

Share

Authors

Download

Issue

Publication details

Dates

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Non Specialist Summary