This project is primarily concerned with spiritual yearning in practice among the nonreligious. We begin with a preliminary understanding of spiritual yearning as a longing for an experience of ‘transcendence’, or a sense of connection to something ‘greater’ than oneself, that may be channeled into various avenues outside of traditional religion. To explore this understudied area we ask if ‘biohacking’ is one of those avenues.
We will use the tools of qualitative sociology (participant-observation, digital ethnography, interviews) to conceptualize the problem space of spiritual yearning among biohackers and generate the question space for further research. We will refine and test our definition of spiritual yearning via both conceptual and empirical work.
We have invited a small group of scholars of religion with some experience in either spirituality or self-enhancement to reflect on the implications for the types of yearnings identified as present in, perhaps even fulfilled by, self-identified nonreligious biohackers. Project investigators will draw on their own theological expertise to reflect on the normative implications and communicate findings to a theological audience, however the overall perspective will not be restricted to that of Christian theology. The co-investigators will produce three papers (two theological/religious studies, one empirical) for publication, to be submitted along with papers authored by invited religious studies scholars for a special journal issue, and public dissemination will include general audience articles, podcast episodes, a website and a trade book manuscript for submission.
