Gaymon Bennett
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Mail code: 9320Campus: Dtphx
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Gaymon Bennett is Director of the Lincoln Center for applied Ethics, Lincoln Chair in ethics and Associate Professor of religion, science, and technology at Arizona State University. He works on the problem of modernity in contemporary religion and biotechnology: its shifting moral economies, contested power relations, and uncertain modes of subjectivity. His book "Technicians of Human Dignity" (Fordham 2016) examines the figure of human dignity in 20th century international and religious politics and its current biopolitical reconfigurations. His co-authored book "Designing Human Practices: An Experiment with Synthetic Biology" (with P. Rabinow, Chicago, 2012) chronicles an anthropological experiment in ethics with engineers reimagining the boundary of biology and computation. And his co-authored "Sacred Cells? Why Christians Should Support Stem Cell Research" (with T. Peters and K. Lebacqz, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) critically engages the early days of stem cell research and the unwitting role of religion in the secularization of life.
Gaymon has conducted multiple experiments in cross-disciplinary collaboration with contemporary biologists and bioengineers. He is a fellow of the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society, and an affiliate faculty member wtih the Center for Jewish Studies, the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at ASU. He is a co-founder and fellow of the Center for Biological Futures in the division of basic sciences at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is also a principal of ARC [Anthropological Research on the Contemporary] and was a founding co-designer of the Human Practices Initiative at the multi-university Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). He led Human Practices at the International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (BIOFAB) at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. These experiments emphasize collaborative empirical inquiry, a shift from theory to shared concept work, and sustained attention to the culture and politics of knowledge production.
- Ph.D Cultural Anthropology, UC Berkeley
- Ph.D. Philosophical Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley
Religion, Science, and Technology
Power and Modernity
Human Dignity and Biosecurity
Anthropology of the Contemporary
Biological Futures
Bioethics and Religion
Political Theology
Religion and Global Health
- Gaymon Bennett and Anthony Stavrianakis. Science & Fabrications: On Synthetic Biology. Biosocieties (2014).
- Gaymon Bennett. Nature Natured and Nature Denatured. (2014).
Courses
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 205 | Life, Sex and Death |
LIA 294 | Special Topics |
HON 294 | Special Topics |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 598 | Special Topics |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 501 | The Study of Religion I |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 501 | The Study of Religion I |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 599 | Thesis |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 599 | Thesis |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 591 | Seminar |
REL 690 | Reading and Conference |
2019 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
2019 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 394 | Special Topics |
HON 394 | Special Topics |
2018 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 201 | Religion and the Modern World |
REL 598 | Special Topics |
- Gaymon Bennett. The Moral Economy of Biotechnical Facility. Research Agendas in the & Societal Aspects of Synthetic Biology, National Science Foundation (Nov 2015).
- Gaymon Bennett. Allopathic vs. Alternative Modes of Healing: Jewish Perspectives on Optimal Health. Annual Meeting of the Judaism, Science and Medicine Group (Oct 2014).
- Gaymon Bennett. Big Data, Biology, and Security: Thoughts on Alienation and Empowerment. Big Data, Life Sciences, and National Security project of the AAAS and the FBI (Apr 2014).
- Gaymon Bennett. The Malicious and the Uncertain: Ethics, Influenza, and the Anthropology of Global Health. Invited speaker at St. Louis University's Center for Bioethics (Feb 2014).
- Gaymon Bennett. Augustine’s Grace: Dignity and the Body in a Space of Post-Genomics. Invited speaker at Boston University's School of Theology (Jan 2014).
- Consortium for Science and Policy Outcomes Faculty Search, Interviewer (2015 - Present)
- Faculty Search Committee for new hire in Environmental Humanities, Committee Member (2015 - Present)
- Committee on Undergraduate Education, Religious Studies, Committee Member (2015 - Present)
- Science, Technology and Human Values, Reviewer (2014 - Present)
- Somatosphere, Contributor (2013 - Present)
- BioSocieties, Reviewer (2012 - Present)
- The Hastings Center Report, Reviewer (2011 - Present)
- The Journal of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Reviewer (2011 - Present)
- Theory, Culture, Society, Reviewer (2010 - Present)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, Expert Consultant for Big Data and Security Project (2015 - 2015)