Abstract

Human beings have always sought to exceed the limits of their finitude. From the biblical builders of Babel to contemporary projects of technological enhancement, humanity repeatedly transforms its desire for security, knowledge, permanence, and power into structures that promise to overcome creaturely limitations. This article reconsiders the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) not simply as a story about disobedience, but as a theological account of the limits of human self-transcendence. It argues that the central issue in Babel is not human creativity or technological construction itself, but the attempt to convert human capacity into a substitute for dependence upon God. The argument is developed through biblical-theological analysis and philosophical reflection on technology, transhumanism, human dignity, and the doctrine of creation. The article distinguishes legitimate technological creativity from technological absolutism: technology may extend human agency, but it cannot transform finite creatures into autonomous sources of ultimate meaning, immortality, or divine authority. The discussion engages classical and contemporary perspectives, including Augustine, Aquinas, Heidegger, Ellul, Tillich, Jonas, and recent scholarship on artificial intelligence and transhumanism. The article concludes that the enduring theological significance of Babel lies in its diagnosis of a recurring human temptation: to mistake increased power for increased being. Authentic transcendence, from a Christian theological perspective, is therefore not achieved by abolishing creaturely limits but by rightly inhabiting them in relation to God, other human beings, and creation.