Theology and Bioethics

We who live in this post-modern late twentieth century culture are still children of dualism. For a variety of rather complex reasons we continue to split apart and treat as radical opposites body and spirit, medicine and religion, sacred and secular, private and public, love and justice, men and women. Though this is still our strong tendency, we are beginning to­ discover both the futility and the harm of such dualistic splitting. Peoples of many ancient cultures might smile at the belatedness of our discovery concerning the commonalities of medicine and religion. A cur­ sory glance back at ancient Egypt, Samaria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome would disclose a common thread - the close union of religion and medicine. Both were centrally concerned with healing, health, and wholeness. The person was understood as a unity of body, mind, and spirit. The priest and the physician frequently were combined in the same individual. One of the important contributions of this significant volume of essays is the sustained attack upon dualism. From a variety of vantage points, virtually all of the authors unmask the varied manifestations of dualism in religion and medicine, urging a more holistic approach. Since the editor has provided an excellent summary of each article, I shall not attempt to comment on specific contributions. Rather , I wish to highlight three 1 broad themes which I find notable for theological ethics.

Section I: Theology, Science, and Bioethics. - Religion and the Renaissance of Medical Ethics in the United States: 1965 1975. - Theology and Science: Their Difference as a Source of Interaction in Ethics. - Scientific and Religious Aspects of Bioethics. - Hartshorne, Theology, and the Nameless God. - The Potential of Theology for Ethics. - The Role of Theology in Bioethics. - Looking for God and Finding the Abyss: Bioethics and Natural Theology. - Section II: Foundations and Frontiers in Religious Bioethics. - Theology and Bioethics: Christian Foundations. - Theological Frontiers: Implications for Bioethics. - Contextuality and Convenant: The Pertinence of Social Theory and Theology to Bioethics. - Feminist Theology and Bioethics. - Doing Ethics in a Plural World. - Section III: Religious Reasoning about Bioethics and Medical Practice. - Salvation and Health: Why Medicine Needs the Church. - Love and Justice in Christian Biomedical Ethics. - Contemporary Jewish Bioethics: A Critical Assessment. - Medical Loyalty: Dimensions and Problems of a Rich Idea. - Responsibility for Life: Bioethics in Theological Perspective. - Epilogue: Does Theology Make a Contribution to Bioethics? . - Notes on Contributors.