Dr. Calvin Mercer 210 Quail Hollow Rd.
Professor of Religious Studies
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina, United States
Biography
Calvin Mercer was trained in biblical criticism and hermeneutics and published in that field for many years before turning to the opportunities, dangers, and religious implications of advancing AI and radical human technological enhancement. He is coauthor, with Tracy J. Trothen, of Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism, which received the ISSR Prize for Books Suitable for a Professional Audience. Together with Steve Fuller, he coedits Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and Its Successors, the oldest book series devoted to human enhancement from a wide range of disciplinary and ideological perspectives; to date the series comprises fifteen volumes. His other work on technology and human enhancement includes four coedited volumes of original chapters, three coedited journal theme issues, and multiple journal articles. Mercer was the founding chair of the “Human Enhancement and Transhumanism” Unit in the American Academy of Religion and remains active in that unit’s leadership. He serves on the Academic Advisory Council of the Christian Transhumanist Association. Also trained in clinical psychology, he practiced part-time for over a decade and draws on this background in his work on religion, including Slaves to Faith: A Therapist Looks Inside the Fundamentalist Mind (foreword by Martin Marty). Stemming from his service as a municipal elected official, he coauthored There Ought to Be a Law: A Bright Day at the State Capitol, an award-winning children’s book. Mercer is professor of religion at East Carolina University. https://religionprogram.ecu.edu/calvin-mercer-phd/ and https://www.youtube.com/@calvinmercer6150
Honoraria Titles
Major Prizes
Religion, Philosophy & History Interests
Christianity-Protestantism, Theology
Science & Technology Interests
Biotechnology, Genetics, Information Technology
Website
https://religionprogram.ecu.edu/calvin-mercer-phd/
Publications
Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism
Palgrave Macmillan 2021
Co-authors: Tracy J. Trothen
