Post-Biological Imago Dei

Mind-uploading as a Continuity of Humanity’s Creative Participation

Authors

  • Gabriel Hotmartua Pardede Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana
  • Frans Best Soma Marpaung Sekolah Tinggi Teologi HKBP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46567/ijt.v14i1.696

Keywords:

mind-uploading, transhumanism, imago Dei, eschatology, futurum–adventus, creatio continua, post-biological existence

Abstract

This article examines mind-uploading in transhumanism through a dialogue with Christian eschatological theology and the doctrine of the imago Dei, particularly concerning personal identity and the continuity of existence. By employing the concepts of futurum–adventus and creatio continua, mind-uploading is understood as an expression of human creative participation in the ongoing dynamics of creation, which remains continually open to the action of God as the giver of the future. Furthermore, through a dynamic reading of the imago Dei, this article proposes that post-biological entities embody both discontinuity and continuity of identity, as an “I and not-I” in an eschatological sense. These post-biological entities carry traces of the image of God in the form of relational patterns, memory, and self-expression that participate in history. This study thus proposes a rearticulation of the imago Dei within a post-biological context.

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Author Biographies

Gabriel Hotmartua Pardede, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana

Gabriel Hotmartua Pardede received a Bachelor of Theology from HKBP Theological Seminary in Pematangsiantar. He is currently a master's student at the Faculty of Theology, Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta, with a concentration in Public Theology Studies.

Frans Best Soma Marpaung, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi HKBP

Frans Best Soma Marpaung, Ph.D., is a lecturer in Systematic Theology at the HKBP Theological Seminary in Pematangsiantar. He received his Ph.D. from Yonsei University in the Republic of Korea. He is also a senior fellow at the Spatial Ethnography collaborative network. In addition to his academic activities, he serves as a writer and trainer at Rihand Creative, a counseling and educational institution that guides, educates, and empowers children, youth, parents, and professional groups.

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Published

2026-07-31

How to Cite

Pardede, G. H., & Marpaung, F. B. S. (2026). Post-Biological Imago Dei: Mind-uploading as a Continuity of Humanity’s Creative Participation. Indonesian Journal of Theology, 14(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.46567/ijt.v14i1.696

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