While the Christian church has experienced extraordinary growth over the last century, Western culture has continued its seemingly inexorable drift into post-Christian forms. The contrast between our burgeoning churches and the scant impact that Christians have on public policy, the university, or the professions is distressing. And nowhere is this development more evident--and more consequential--than in the field of bioethics, where the dignity of human beings is constantly open to redefinition, and where much of our inheritance is coming under withering fire from those whose values are radically distinct from the Judeo-Christian tradition. This new volume takes seriously the Christian mandate to engage modern culture, giving specific attention to the urgent need for moral leadership as we encounter the difficult challenges posed by biotechnology. These insightful chapters by twenty leading activists, academics, and professionals discuss the contributions that a Christian perspective can and should make to the biomedical debate in today's most important forums--public policy and law, education, media, health care, and the church itself.
This book from The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity provides a faith-based evaluation of recent technologies and trends in bioethics--including the current debate surrounding stem cell research. Fifteen noted scholars and medical practitioners discuss some of today's new and controversial work in biomedicine--xenotransplantation, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and more--and evaluate from a Christian perspective both the science and the ethical questions it raises. Designed to orient general readers to the current state of biomedical research, Cutting-Edge Bioethics is must reading for anyone wishing to confront and wrestle with the challenging moral issues posed by this ever-advancing field.
Cloning. Assisted Suicide. Stem Cell Research. The advance of biotechnology today is breathtaking. Do we know where all of this is leading us? We've all heard about the cloned sheep, Dolly. But is cloning humans going too far? What does the Bible say about limits of science and medicine? John F. Kilner and C. Ben Mitchell will lead you on a fascinating journey, explaining the cutting-edge advances in biotechnology and where they are leading our society. This book will help you formulate an informed and thoroughly Christian perspective on everything from assisted suicide to infertility treatments, from cloning to stem cell research. In a fast-moving, complex world, you need to know. The Vital Questions series investigates key issues that make a practical difference in how Christians think and act. Each book's goal is to provide a substantial, accessible discussion of issues about which Christians need to know more.
In response to the many changes currently going on in health care, this book offers the combined insight and wisdom of a stellar group of scholars and professionals with extensive experience in the health care field. The book opens with a look at people's actual experience of health care today, from four different perspectives. It then addresses foundational questions, including the nature of medicine, nursing, and justice. Surveyed next are the changing economics of health care as well as the impact of these changes on such areas as mental health care, long-term care, health care for minorities, and legal malpractice. The closing section of the book assesses from a Christian perspective available constructive alternatives, including creative funding strategies with special attention to the needs of poor persons, physician unions, and the use of "alternative medicine" therapies.
The New Medicine addresses the current crisis in medicine that stems from the steady collapse of the Hippocratic tradition of professional medical practice. Side by side growing support for abortion and euthanasia, both forbidden in the Hippocratic Oath, we see a shift toward the "relief of suffering" as the goal of medicine - a weasel concept that has been broadened to include the "suffering" of relatives, physicians, and society at large. The evils of medicine and science under the Nazis illustrated how rapidly the humane medical tradition could be subverted and medical skills put to terrible purposes. As we seek in the 21st century to rebuild the professional character of medicine, and to develop a policy framework for bioscience and related technologies, there has never been wiser counsel than that of Hippocrates. And that this pagan physician should have been endorsed by Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and perhaps most notably in the 20th century by Margaret Mead, doyenne of anthropologists and one of the century's most influential liberal figures, suggests that his vision for medicine is as relevant to tomorrow as it was in the distant days of late antique Greece.
