Dr Michael Burdett is Associate Professor of Christian Theology at the University of Nottingham and a research associate of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford. Before taking up his role at the University of Nottingham he worked as a lecturer and researcher in science and religion for SCIO, the UK centre for the CCCU. He completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford, and worked in the aerospace and robotics industries for several years working with a firm that had contracts with NASA and JPL. He holds degrees in engineering, physics, and theology and has been given academic and professional awards in each field. His academic interests lie at the intersection of science and technology, theology and philosophy. He is a series editor for the Routledge Science and Religion series and his major works include Technology and the Rise of Transhumanism: Beyond Genetic Engineering (Grove, 2014), Eschatology and the Technological Future (Routledge, 2015) and Finding Ourselves After Darwin: Conversations about the Image of God, Original Sin, and the Problem of Evil (Baker Academic, 2018).
He has helped lead several grant projects totalling over ~£2.5 million including “Co-creating Ourselves?: Deification and Creaturehood in an Age of Biotechnological Enhancement” (JTF), “Bridging the Two Cultures of Science and Humanities” (TRT and Blankemeyer), “Christian Flourishing in a Technological World” (Issachar) and “God and the Book of Nature” (JTF). He is currently leading a grant project of theologians, philosophers and scientists entitled “Biocultural Evolution and Theological Anthropology”.
His current research focuses on the interaction between Christian theology and artificial intelligence and is finishing his next book tentatively titled Death and Glory: Humanism, Transhumanism and Christianity.
