Dr Victoria Lorrimar

Biography

Before coming to UNDA in 2023, I was Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Trinity College Queensland (2018-2022). I received my PhD from the University of Oxford and also have an undergraduate degree in genetics and biochemistry from the University of Western Australia. I held an Honorary Research Fellowship with the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Humanities at the University of Queensland (2018-2022) and was a recipient of the Australian College of Theology's Winifred Merritt Research Fellowship.

Teaching Areas

Science and religion
Religion and technology
Theological anthropology

Books

Science Fiction and Christian Theology (Elements Series in Christianity and Science). Cambridge University Press (under contract)
Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology. Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Book Chapters

“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

“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

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