University of Oxford
Cayla Bleoaja is a postgraduate in Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. She previously completed an MSc in Sociology at Oxford as a Barry Scholar, where her research on how communities heal from mass shootings was awarded the prize for best thesis, and has received a Peter Harrison fellowship to continue her work on how humans heal. Cayla previously spent a year in Romania as a Fulbright research scholar and received a Richter grant for a study published as a chapter in a Cambridge Scholars edited collection. She is a performing artist, published poet, and friend to all trees.
Biomimicry refers to the practice of applying strategies observed in nature to comparable challenges in human society. It seeks to understand the principles and underlying mechanisms of living organisms and their biological processes in order to inform innovations in science, engineering, and medicine. This thesis examines the relationship between humans and nature by bringing biomimetics in conversation with the theology of deep incarnation, which extends the traditional understanding of Christ’s incarnation to the physical and ecological dimensions of creation. It offers insight into how science and society might benefit from a schema in which the earth and all creatures are integrated in God through the extended mind of Christ that conjoins the biological web of all life. Deep incarnation uses the notion of ‘information’ to distinguish between God and creation, in that life forms can be said to ‘increase’ in information in the ascent from the simple to the complex. Deep incarnation presumes that God the creator must share some aspects of information with the world of creation if God can be said to be embedded, through incarnation, into the very tissues of material and biological existence. Given that in some cases nature has information that humans do not have, this thesis argues against a hierarchical structure that places humans above other life forms and reconsiders the role humanity has within the community of creatures on Earth. Additionally, the principles undergirding biospheres and ecosystems can offer unique insight for flourishing social systems and for how humans ought to live.