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Faculty Profile

Dr. Robert Geraci Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

 

Education:

• B.A., University of Texas at Austin
• M.A., University of California at Santa Barbara
• Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara

Research and Scholarly Interests:

I study the power of religion in contemporary culture, particularly with regard to the interaction between religion and science.  Other interests include the history of science, anthropology of science, contemporary art, literature, Christian history, and economics.  Current research focuses upon the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, online gaming, and religion (primarily Jewish and Christian apocalypticism but also Japanese Buddhism and Shinto).

Recent Publications:

Forthcoming. Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Forthcoming. “Brain-Machine Interfaces and the Transhuman.”  Routledge Companion for Religion and Science(eds. Haag, Peterson, and Spezio).  New York: Routledge.

2009.  “Religion and Science in the Practice of Daily Life.”  Encyclopedia of Religion and Daily Life (eds. Hecht and Biondo). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

“Apocalyptic AI:  Religion and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence.”  The Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76:1.  (2008) 138-166.

“Robots and the Sacred in Science and Science Fiction:  Theological Implications of Artificial Intelligence.”  Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 42”4 (December 2007). 961-980

"Cultural Prestige:  Popular Science Publications as Religion-Science Hybrids."  Theology and Media Society (eds. Alexander D. Ornella and Stefanie Knauss).  LIT Press. 2007.

"Spiritual Robots: Religion and Our Scientific View of the Natural World."  Theology and Science 4:3 (November 2006).

"Signaling Static:  Artistic, Religious and Scientific Truths in a Relational Ontology."  Zygon, Journal of Religion and Science.  December 2005.

"Laboratory Ritual:  Experimentation and the Advancement of Science."  Zygon, Journal of Religion and Science.  December 2002.

Other Activities:

Moderator of Theta Alpha Kappa

Courses Taught/Teaching:

• RELS 110: Nature and Experience of Religion
• RELS 300: Gnostic Christianity
• RELS 400: Religion and Contemporary Art
• RELS 400: Fantasy, Science Fiction and Religion
• RELS 425: Religion and Psychology
• RELS 463: Religion and Science

Contact Information:

• Telephone: (718) 862-7402
• Office: Miguel 418
• Fax: (718) 862-8044
• e-mail: robert.geraci@manhattan.edu

 

Page last updated by M. LaMonica on October 19, 2009