Bioethics: Core Concepts

Foundations of Bioethics

These resources provide an introduction to the core concepts, methodology, and history of bioethics.

• Akabayashi, Akira, ed. The Future of Bioethics: International Dialogues. Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Baker, Robert. Before Bioethics: A History of American Medical Ethics from the Colonial Period to the Bioethics Revolution. Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Theological Bioethics: Participation, Justice, and Change. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2005.
• Cameron, Nigel M. de S. The New Medicine: Life and Death After Hippocrates. Chicago: The Bioethics Press, 2001.
• Campbell, Alastair V. Bioethics: The Basics. New York: Routledge, 2013.
• DeGrazia, David. Human Identity and Bioethics. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• DeGrazia, David, Thomas Mappes, and Jeffrey Ballard. Biomedical Ethics. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
• Eberl, Jason T. Thomistic Principles and Bioethics. Routledge Annals of Bioethics. New York: Routledge, 2006.
• Eckenwiler, Lisa A., and Felicia G. Cohn, eds. The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.
• Engelhardt, Tristram H., Jr. The Foundations of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
• __________. The Foundations of Christian Bioethics. Salem, MA: M & M Scrivener, 2000.  ***
• Furrow, Barry R., Thomas L. Greaney, Sandra H. Johnson, Timothy S. Jost, and Robert L. Schwartz. Bioethics: Health Care Law and Ethics. 7th ed. Los Angeles: West Group, 2013.
• Gert, Bernard, Charles M. Culver, and K. Danner Clouser. Bioethics: A Systematic Approach. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Harris, John, ed. Bioethics. Oxford Readings in Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Hauerwas, Stanley. Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986. ***
• Holland, Stephen. Bioethics: A Philosophical Introduction. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
• Jecker, Nancy S., Albert R Jonsen, and Robert A. Pearlman. Bioethics: An Introduction to the History, Methods, and Practice.  2nd ed.  Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett, 2007.
• Jonsen, Albert R. The Birth of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Kuhse, Helga, and Peter Singer, eds. Bioethics: An Anthology. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006.
• McGee, Glenn. Bioethics for Beginners: 60 Cases and Cautions from the Moral Frontier of Healthcare. Malden, Mass.: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
• Meilaender, Gilbert.  Bioethics: A Primer for Christians.  3nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013. ***
• Munson, Ronald. Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2011.
• Pence, Gregory. Medical Ethics: Accounts of Ground-Breaking Cases. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014.
• __________. Re-creating Medicine: Ethical Issues at the Frontiers of Medicine. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
• Rae, Scott and Paul M. Cox. Bioethics: A Christian Approach in a Pluralistic Age. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. ***
• Schaeffer, Francis A., and C. Everett Koop. Whatever Happened to the Human Race? Wheaton: Crossway, 1983. ***
• Sgreccia, Elio. Personalist Bioethics: Foundations and Applications. Philadelphia: National Catholic Bioethics Center, 2012.
• Steinbock, Bonnie, John Arras, and Alex John London. Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine: Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
• Stevens, M.L. Tina. Bioethics in America: Origins and Cultural Politics. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
• Sugarman, Jeremy and Daniel P. Sulmasy, eds. Methods in Medical Ethics. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2010.
• Vaughn, Lewis.  Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Veatch, Robert M. The Basics of Bioethics. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2011

Out of Print

• Frame, John M. Medical Ethics: Principles, Persons, and Problems. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988.
• Granberg-Michaelson, Karin. In the Land of the Living: Health Care and the Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984. ***
• Payne, Franklin E., Jr. Biblical/Medical Ethics: The Christian and the Practice of Medicine. Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1985. ***
• Rothman, David. Strangers at the Bedside. de Gruyter, 2003.
• Shelly, Judith Allen. Dilemma: A Nurse's Guide for Making Ethical Decisions. Downers Grove: IVP, 1980.
• Veatch, Robert M. The Basics of Bioethics. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2003.
• Verhey, Allen D. The Practice of Piety and the Practice of Medicine: Prayer, Scripture, and Medical Ethics. Grand Rapids: Stob Lecture Endowment, 1992. ***

Surveys in Bioethics

These resources address bioethics from particular perspectives and provide individual views and commentary on bioethical issues.

• Beauchamp, Tom. L., LeRoy Walters, Jeffrey P. Kahn, and Anna C. Mastroianni.  Contemporary Issues in Bioethics. 8th ed.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2013.
• Caplan, Arthur L., ed. When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust. New York: Humana Press, 1992.
• Caplan, Arthur L. and Robert Arp, eds. Contemporary Debates in Bioethics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.
• Frame, John M. Medical Ethics: Principles, Persons, and Problems. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988.
• Gomez-Lobo, Alfonso. Bioethics and the Human Goods: An Introduction to Natural Law Bioethics. Georgetown University Press, 2015.
• Green, Ronald M. and Nathan J. Palpant, eds. Suffering and Bioethics. Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Jonsen, Albert. Bioethics Beyond the Headlines: Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Decides? New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
• Koch, Tom. Thieves of Virtue: When Bioethics Stole Medicine. Basic Bioethics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.
• Lewens, Tim. The Biological Foundations of Bioethics. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• May, William F. The Physician's Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics. 2nd ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000.
• Pierce, Jessican and George Randels. Contemporary Bioethics: A Reader with Cases. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Ramsey, Paul. The Patient as Person. 2nd ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
• Shelly, Judith Allen, and Arlene B. Miller. Values in Conflict: Christian Nursing in a Changing Profession. Downers Grove: IVP, 1991. ***
• Singer, Peter and A.M. Viens, eds. The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Talbot, Marianne. Bioethics: An Introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• VanDrunen, David. Bioethics and the Christian Life: A Guide to Making Difficult Decisions.  Wheaton: Crossway, 2009. ***

Out of Print

• La Puma, John, and David Schiedermayer. Ethics Consultation: A Practical Guide. Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 1994.
• Mohrmann, Margaret E. Medicine as Ministry. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1995. ***
• Ramsey, Paul. Ethics at the Edges of Life: Medical and Legal Intersections. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1980.
• Rothman, David. Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making. Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2003.
• Snyder, Graydon F. Tough Choices: Health Care Decisions and the Faith Community. Elgin, IL: Brethren, 1988. ***

General Christian Ethics including Bioethics Material

• Charles, J. Daryl. Retrieving the Natural Law: A Return to Moral First Things. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
• Davis, John Jefferson. Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today. 3rd ed. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2004. ***
• Messer, Neil. Flourishing: Health, Disease, and Bioethics in Theological Perspective. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013.
• Feinberg, John S., and Paul D. Feinberg. Ethics for a Brave New World. 2nd ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.  ***
• Rae, Scott.  Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. ***

Out of Print

• Beckwith, Francis, and Norman L. Geisler. Matters of Life and Death: Calm Answers to Tough Questions About Abortion and Euthanasia. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991. ***
• Blocher, Mark. Vital Signs: Decisions That Determine the Quality of Life and Health. Chicago: Moody, 1992.
• Bouma, Hessel, III, Douglas Diekema, Edward Langerak, Theodore Rottman, and Allen Verhey. Christian Faith, Health, and Medical Practice. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989. ***
• Hollman, Jay. ed. New Issues in Medical Ethics. Bristol, TN: Christian Medical and Dental Society, 1995. ***
• Jones, D. Gareth. Brave New People: Ethical Issues at the Commencement of Life. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985. ***
• Orr, Robert D., David B. Biebel, and David L. Schiedermayer. Life and Death Decisions: Help in Making Tough Choices about Infertility, Abortion, Birth Defects, and AIDS. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996.
• Payne, Franklin E., Jr. Biblical Healing for Modern Medicine: Choosing Life and Health or Disease and Death. Augusta, GA: Covenant Enterprises, 1993.  ***
• __________. Making Biblical Decisions. Escondido, CA: Hosanna House, 1989. ***
• Schemmer, Kenneth E. Tinkering with People. Wheaton: Victor, 1992.
• Schiedermayer, David. Putting the Soul Back in Medicine. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994. ***
• Shelly, Judith Allen. Dilemma: A Nurse's Guide for Making Ethical Decisions. Downers Grove: IVP, 1980.

Bioethics Collections

These resources are composed of anthologies and multi-author works addressing a wide range of bioethics topics.

• Eckenwiler, Lisa A. and Felicia G. Cohn, eds. The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2007.
• DeGrazia, David, Thomas Mappes, and Jeffrey Brand-Ballard. Biomedical Ethics. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011.
• Kilner, John, ed. Why the Church Needs Bioethics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.
• Kilner, John F., C. Christopher Hook, and Diann B. Uustal. Cutting Edge Bioethics: A Christian Exploration of Technologies and Trends. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. ***
• Kushe, Helga and Peter Singer, eds. A Companion to Bioethics. 2nd ed. Hershey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
• LaFollette, Hugh, ed. Ethics in Practice: An Anthology. 4th ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2014.
• Lysaught, M. Therese, Joseph Kotva, and Stephen Lammers, eds. On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives on Medical Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. ***
• Wagner, Viqi. Biomedical Ethics. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008.

Out of Print

• Allen, David E., Lewis P. Bird, and Robert Herrmann, eds. Whole-Person Medicine: An International Symposium. Downers Grove: IVP, 1980.
• Brown, Ian L., and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, eds. Medicine in Crisis: A Christian Response. Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 1988. ***
• Kilner, John F., Nigel M. de S. Cameron, and David L. Schiedermayer, eds. Bioethics and the Future of Medicine: A Christian Appraisal. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. ***
• Land, Richard D., and Louis A. Moore, eds. Life at Risk: The Crises in Medical Ethics. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995.
• Rogers, John, ed. Medical Ethics, Human Choices: A Christian Perspective. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1988.
• Schneider, Edward D., ed. Questions about the Beginning of Life: Christian Appraisals. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985. ***

*** Designates Christian Resource

‍