When people hear the word transhumanism, they often picture science fiction: cyborgs, brain implants, minds uploaded to the cloud. It sounds like a fringe idea. It isn’t. Some of the most powerful people building artificial intelligence today openly describe their work in transhumanist terms. If Christians want to understand the forces shaping AI, we need to understand the worldview behind it.
In this article I want to define transhumanism, show how Scripture speaks to it, and explain why I believe it is best understood not as a technology movement but as a counterfeit gospel.
What is transhumanism?
Transhumanism is a movement that advocates using technology to enhance human capacities beyond their biological limits, and ultimately to transcend human nature itself.
It usually shows up in three promises:
- Enhancement. Improving human beings beyond “normal” functioning: stronger, smarter, faster, happier.
- Transcendence. Merging with machines to become “posthuman,” something beyond Homo sapiens.
- Conquering death. Treating mortality as a technical problem to be solved through radical life extension, digital consciousness upload, or other means.
Not every use of technology to heal or help is transhumanist. Eyeglasses, insulin pumps, and prosthetic limbs restore what the Fall has damaged. Transhumanism goes further. It aims not to restore human nature but to leave it behind.
This is not a fringe idea
These are not anonymous internet voices. They are some of the most influential figures in technology.
Ray Kurzweil, a longtime director of engineering at Google, has predicted that AI will surpass human intelligence by around 2045, an event he calls the Singularity, and that humans will merge with machines to achieve a kind of digital immortality. Elon Musk, whose company Neuralink builds brain-computer interfaces, has said that humans must essentially become cyborgs to keep pace with AI. Leaders at the major AI labs speak openly about building artificial general intelligence, systems capable of performing any intellectual task a human can.
The historian Yuval Noah Harari has described the transhumanist hope with unusual candor, envisioning a future in which humanity upgrades itself until we are “no longer human beings, but human gods,” and the Bible becomes irrelevant.
Whatever you make of these predictions, notice the shape of the hope. It is not an engineering roadmap. It is a vision of salvation.
What the Bible says: from Babel to Babylon
Scripture has seen this story before.
“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 11:4)
Notice what comes first at Babel. Not the tower, but the bricks: “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly” (Genesis 11:3). A new technology opened the people’s imagination to new possibilities, and their ambition followed. They wanted to reach the heavens and make a name for themselves, not for God. As John Dyer writes, “The allure of technology, then, is a promise that the right tools will bring about a better world.”
The same story ends in Revelation 18, where Babylon, the great monument of human civilization in rebellion against God, falls “in a single hour.” From Babel to Babylon, the pattern holds: humanity builds upward on its own terms, and God remains sovereign over it all.
The transhumanist project is Babel with better bricks.
Three reasons transhumanism fails
Jacob Shatzer, whose book Transhumanism and the Image of God has shaped much of my thinking here, says it plainly: transhumanism is not a neutral philosophy. It is a religious vision offering technological salvation. And as a gospel, it fails in at least three ways.
1. It denies our creatureliness
Transhumanism treats human limits (aging, weakness, the need for sleep, death itself) as engineering problems. But Scripture teaches that finitude is not a flaw in our design. It is part of it. God made Adam from the dust (Genesis 2:7), and before the Fall He called that creature “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Cornelius Van Til put it simply: “Man can never in any sense outgrow his creaturehood.”
Shatzer goes further: “Alienation from our bodies is a form of alienation from God… The desire to escape our bodies is a symptom of the fall.” The longing to leave the body behind is not a sign of progress. It is a symptom of the very problem it claims to solve.
2. It misunderstands the image of God
Transhumanism tends to reduce what it means to be human to raw intelligence: processing power that can be enhanced, copied, or uploaded. But the image of God is far richer than cognitive capacity. It includes rationality, yes, but also creativity, moral agency, embodiment, and, above all, relationship with our Creator. We were made to represent God’s rule and reflect His glory, and our lives are meant to be oriented toward others and ultimately toward God Himself.
A machine can imitate some of what we do. It cannot share in what we are.
3. It cannot solve the real problem
The deepest human problem is not that we die. It is why we die. “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Death is not a technical malfunction. It is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23).
That means our problem requires redemption, not an upgrade. No amount of computing power can reconcile us to God, forgive our sins, or give us new hearts. Only Christ can do that.
The gospel answers the longing underneath
Here is where Christians should be careful not to simply scoff. The desires that drive transhumanism are not foolish. The longing to be free from disease, to escape death, and to become more than we are now are deep human desires. Scripture does not mock them. It fulfills them.
- Where transhumanism promises digital immortality, Christ promises bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:42–44).
- Where it offers posthuman transcendence, Christ conforms us to His own image (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
- Where it markets freedom through enhancement, Christ makes all things new (Revelation 21:5).
Paul calls Christ “the last Adam,” who became “a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). The first Adam could only pass on the natural life he had received. Christ gives a life that death cannot touch. What transhumanism longs for, only Christ delivers.
How should Christians respond?
Understanding transhumanism doesn’t mean refusing all technology. Medicine, accessibility tools, and much of AI can be received as gifts of God’s common grace. But it does mean learning to see the worldview behind the tools we use. (For why Christians can still receive tools built by people who reject God, see What Is Common Grace?; for practical boundaries, see Should Christians Use AI?)
A few practical steps:
- Listen to how technology leaders describe their goals. When someone talks about “transcending” human limits or “solving” death, recognize the religious claim being made.
- Draw the line between restoring and replacing. Healing what is broken honors the Creator. Trying to escape creaturehood itself is a different project entirely.
- Embrace your limits as a gift. Sleep, Sabbath, aging, and dependence on others are not bugs. They are daily reminders that we are creatures and God is God.
- Preach the better hope. The church does not need to out-innovate Silicon Valley. It needs to proclaim the resurrection.
The bottom line
Transhumanism is a counterfeit gospel. It promises what only God can give: freedom from death, a transformed self, and a renewed world. The church should neither panic nor shrug. We should recognize the longing, name the idol, and point to the One who has already conquered death.
This is the focus of Session Three of God, AI, and the Future of the Church, “Transhumanism and the False Gods of AI.” For a broader introduction, start with the free guide What Does the Bible Say About AI?
Frequently asked questions
What is transhumanism?
Transhumanism is a movement that seeks to use technology to enhance human capacities beyond biological limits and ultimately to transcend human nature itself, through enhancement, merging with machines, and attempts to conquer death.
Is transhumanism compatible with Christianity?
No. Healing and restoring what the Fall has damaged honors God, but transhumanism aims to escape creaturehood itself and offers salvation through technology. It denies our creatureliness, misunderstands the image of God, and cannot solve the real problem of sin.
Does the Bible mention transhumanism?
Not by name, but the pattern appears from Babel (Genesis 11) to Babylon (Revelation 18): humanity using its best technology to make a name for itself apart from God.
Is AI the antichrist?
No. AI is a human-made tool, not a person or a spiritual being. But Scripture does warn against trusting human technology for salvation, from Babel (Genesis 11) to Babylon (Revelation 18). The danger is not the machine itself but the idolatry of placing our hope in it.
What is the Christian alternative to transhumanism?
The resurrection. Where transhumanism promises digital immortality, Christ promises bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Where it offers transcendence, Christ conforms us to His image (Romans 8:29). Where it promises a new humanity through technology, Christ makes all things new (Revelation 21:5).
About the author: Ryan Shelley
Founder of Common Grace Institute. Ryan holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and is a candidate for the MPhil in Artificial Intelligence at Capital Technology University.