Dr Victoria Lorrimar

Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Ethics and Society, Associate Dean of Research – Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Theology
DPhil (Oxon), GradDipPsych, MDiv, BSc (Hons)

Email: victoria.lorrimar@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Before coming to UNDA in 2023, I was Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Trinity College Queensland (2018-2022) with the Australian University of Theology. I received my PhD from the University of Oxford in 2018 and also have formal qualifications in genetics and biochemistry (undergraduate) and psychology (graduate). I held an Honorary Research Fellowship with the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Humanities at the University of Queensland (2018-2022).

    My research explores the many ways in which people construct understandings of self in relation to the world, and how this takes place against a complex backdrop of religion, spirituality and politics. I am particularly interested in biohacking as a contemporary phenomenon of self-creation, the interplay between technology and spirituality, and the growing impact of algorithms and digital culture in self-determination and visions of human being. I also work on the social and ethical implications of AI and emerging technologies for augmenting human biology and capacities.

    I mainly work in the field of religious studies as it intersects with the sciences. My first book, Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology, brought together cognitive and evolutionary perspectives on human creativity with theological and literary perspectives to present technological augmentation as a legitimate activity of human co-creation from a religious perspective. My current research projects are concerned with manifestations of spiritual yearning outside of traditional religious contexts (e.g. in various biohacking activities) and incorporate mixed methods from sociology and psychology of religion.

    I am a Founding Member of the Human Augmentation Research Network.

  • Teaching Areas

    • Science and religion
    • Religion and technology
    • Theological anthropology

  • Research expertise and supervision

    I am available to supervise HDR projects in the areas of science and religion, spirituality and technology and social and ethical perspectives on human augmentation and artificial intelligence.

    • Biohacking, human augmentation technology and artificial intelligence
    • Science and religion
    • Religion and technology

  • Books

    • Science Fiction and Christian Theology, Cambridge Elements on Christianity and Science (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025)
    • Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, 2022.

  • Book chapters

    • “Human Technological Enhancement and Transhumanism” (co-authored with Michael Burdett) in The Oxford Handbook of Theological Anthropology, ed. Jens Zimmermann, Michael Burdett and Ashley Moyse (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2025).
    • “Theological Anthropology” in The T & T Clark Encyclopaedia of Christian Doctrine, ed. Christa McKirland (T & T Clark, forthcoming 2025).
    • “Science and Religion Themes in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust: Sin and Evolution, Panpsychism, and the Dangers of ‘Single Vision”’ in Science and Religion in Western Literature: Critical and Theological Studies ed. Michael Fuller. Routledge, 2022.
    • “Imagining Human Futures: Co-creation and Technological Enhancement” in Emerging Voices in Science and Religion, ed. A. McGrath and B. Sollereder. Routledge, 2022.
    • “The Future of Humanity” in The Robot Will See You Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith, ed. John Wyatt and Stephen N. Williams. SPCK, 2021.
    • “Human Technological Enhancement and Christian Perfection” in Wesleyan Perspectives on Human Flourishing, ed. Rob Fringer and Glen O’Brien. Pickwick Publications, 2021.
    • “Stanley Hauerwas: Witnessing Communities of Character” in Generous Orthodoxies: The History and Future of Ecumenical Theology, ed. P. Peterson. Pickwick Publications, 2020.
    • “Human Uniqueness and Technology: Are We Co-Creators with God?” in Issues in Science and Theology: Are We Special?, eds. M. Fuller, D. Evers, A. Runehov and K. Saether. Springer, 2017.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • “Going Beyond the Anxiety-Awe Spectrum by Putting the Human Back into Artificial Intelligence”, American Religion 5(1), 2023:111-117.
    • “Does an Inkling Belong in Science and Religion? Human Consciousness, Epistemology and the Imagination”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 57(1), 2022: 244-266.
    • “Science and Religion: Moving Beyond the Credibility Strategy”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 55(3) 2020, 812-823.
    • “Mind-Uploading and Embodied Cognition: A Theological Response” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 54(1), 2019: 191-206.
    • “Creatures Bound for Glory: Biotechnological Enhancement and Visions of Human Flourishing” (co-authored with Michael Burdett), Studies in Christian Ethics 32(2), 2019: 241-253.
    • “Human Flourishing, Joy, and the Prospect of Radical Life Extension”, The Expository Times 129 (12), 2018: 554-561.
    • “The Scientific Character of the Created Co-Creator”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 52 (3), 2017: 726-746.
    • “Are Scientific Research Programmes Applicable to Theology? On Philip Hefner’s Use of Lakatos”, Theology and Science 15 (2), 2017: 188-202.
    • “Church and Christ in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas”, Ecclesiology 11, 2015: 306-326.

  • Conference papers

    • Institute for the Study of Science and Religion Book Panel, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2022, Denver, USA
    • 2022 Plenary speaker at “Future Theology”, Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Studies Conference, 2022, Sydney, Australia
    • “Engineering Salvation: Human Technological Enhancement and Creaturely Flourishing in Eschatological Perspective”, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2021, virtual
    • “Closing the Gap: Developmental Economics in Speculative Fiction”, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2021, virtual
    • “Science and Religion: Moving Beyond the Credibility Strategy”, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2019, San Diego, USA
    • “Can Theology Gain Credibility from the Sciences?”, Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools Conference, Auckland, New Zealand
    • 2018 “Human Biotechnological Enhancement and Christian Perfection”, Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research Annual Meeting, Sydney, Australia
    • “‘The Touch of Cold Philosophy’: Science and the Imagination”, European Conference in Science and Theology, 2018, Lyon, France
    • “Does Co-Creation Theology Encourage Human Enhancement?”, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2017, Boston, USA
    • “Science Fiction, Theology and Human Technological Enhancement”, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2017, Boston, USA
    • “The Scientific Character of Philip Hefner’s ‘Created Co-Creator”’, Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference, 2017, Nottingham, UK
    • “Special Divine Action and Theological Anthropology” (with M. Loumagne), IRC Divine Action Symposium, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 2016, San Antonio, USA
    • “Understanding Theology within a Scientific Framework”, Ian Ramsey Centre’s ‘A Postsecular Age’ conference, 2016, Oxford, UK
    • “Human Uniqueness and Technological Enhancement”, European Conference in Science and Theology (ESSSAT), 2016, Lodz, Poland
    • “The Scientific Basis for Moral Authority”, Oxford-Jerusalem Conference on Moral Authority, Oxford, UK
    • “Salvation in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas”, Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference, 2016, Durham, UK
    • “Stanley Hauerwas’ Postliberal Ethics: Christological Implications”, Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools annual conference, 2015, Sydney, Australia

  • In the media

    • Panelist on “Do You Really Want to Live Forever?”, God Forbid, ABC Radio National, 23 May 2021
    • “What Hope? Dreams of Immortality in a Time of Pandemic”, ABC Religion and Ethics, 15 April 2020
    • Panelist on “How Do We Know What We Know?”, God Forbid, ABC Radio National, 26 January 2020
    • Panelist on “Artificial Intelligence: Activating Humanity’s God Mode”, God Forbid, ABC Radio National, 20 July 2018
    • “How Bladerunner 2049 Prepares Us to Welcome Robots for Real” (with Michael Burdett), The Conversation (UK), 6 October 2017

  • Professional affiliations

    • Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion
    • Australasian Association for the Study of Religion
    • American Academy of Religion
    • Human Augmentation Research Network
    • Spirituality and Wellbeing (SWell) Research Network