The significance of the concept of sin for bioethics.

After a period during which the theological categories of sin and forgiveness were ignored or trivialized, presently these notions are being rediscovered. What could their impact be on bioethics, either in the narrow sense of medical ethics, or in the more encompassing sense of the ethics of the life sciences? This essay begins with describing the processes of transcending and ethitization, which gave rise to the biblical notion of sin. It portrays the theological foundation of sin in terms of a twofold refusal of proper relations to God and other humans. Through the practise of confession in the face of God (coram deo), sin is placed into a horizon of hope for forgiveness and reconciliation. The heuristic and hermeneutical significance of these categories results from their introducing a "surplus value," which transcends biological and ethical considerations. This additional dimension is illustrated in view of care (cura) for the injured, and in view of individual as well as collective willingness to forgive.     

"...As we forgive those who trespass against us...": theological reflections on sin and guilt in the hospital environment.

In general parlance the term sin has lost its existential meaning. Originally a Jewish-Christian term within a purely religious context, referring to a wrongdoing with regard to God, sin has slowly become reduced to guilt in the course of the secularization process. Guilt refers to a wrongdoing, especially with regard to fellow human beings. It also refers to errors of judgement with what can be tragic consequences. These errors can occur whenever human beings are called upon to act, including the hospital environment. A Christian hospital has to address the issue of how to deal not only with guilt-ridden misdemeanors, but also with wrongdoing unto God, which overshadows every instance of guilt-ridden human behavior. Here, as in every parish, the Church Service is the place to acknowledge sin, confess sin, and forgive sin, beyond the boundaries of the parish itself.     

Sin, suffering, and the need for the theological virtues.

This article examines the account of the relationship between sin and suffering provided by J. L. A. Garcia in "Sin and Suffering in a Catholic Understanding of Medical Ethics," in this issue. Garcia draws on the (Roman) Catholic tradition and particularly on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, who remains an important resource for Catholic theology. Nevertheless, his interpretation of Thomas is open to criticism, both in terms of omissions and in terms of positive claims. Garcia includes those elements of Thomas that are purely philosophical, such as natural law and acquired virtue, but neglects the theological and infused virtues, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the beatitudes. These omissions distort his account of the Christian life so that he underplays both the radical problem posed by sin (and suffering), and the radical character of the ultimate solution: redemption in Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit.     

Why patients should give thanks for their disease: traditional Christianity on the joy of suffering.

Patristic teaching about sin and disease allows supplementing well-acknowledged conditions for a Christian medicine with further personal challenges, widely disregarded in Western Christianities. A proper appreciation of man's vocation toward (not just achieving forgiveness but) deification reveals the need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's offer of grace toward restoring man's pre-fallen nature. Ascetical exercises designed at re-establishing the spirit's mastery over the soul distance persons from (even supposedly harmless) passion. They thus inspire the struggle towards emulating Christ's (self-crucifying) kenotic love, and to accept even secularly "undeserved" suffering as spiritually deserved in view of his (forever) lacking fervor in that struggle. Only in the spirit of that love can the evil Adam's sin brought into this world work its therapeutic impact, the eschatological purpose of which explains God's lovingly permitting that evil. This therapeutic impact is physically manifested already in this life through the transforming energies granted the saints of the church.     

Notes on "bioethics and sin" by Jean-Francois Collange.

Placing the notion of sin in the context of a meontic account of evil, and emphasizing the effect of sin on the sinner himself, this commentary exposes the insufficiency of restricting oneself to human efforts at atonement, and of thus underemphasizing the role of Christ. Collange's claim that the teaching of "predestination" is rooted in Paul and that the doctrine of merits and indulgences is rooted in Augustine is criticized, and Luther's "forensic" understanding is linked with Augustine, rather than with Paul. Collange's reduction of the concern for holiness to respect and trust is contrasted with holiness's essential context of loving unification with God. The commentary closes by exposing the unsatisfactory scantiness of Collange's treatment of cloning, health-care economy, and of the evils of life.     

On the connection between sickness and sin: a commentary.

In response to the articles by Eibach and Groenhut in this issue, I argue that there is a general connection between sickness and the entrance of sin into the world. There are times when there is a causal link between more specific sin and sickness, though often the patient is the one who has been sinned against. Illness can also expose sin in a patient's life. Integrating the reality of illness into the life history of a patient is a significant pastoral care issue and can be done with humility and sensitivity if done in accordance with the teaching of Job and Ecclesiastes. These books argue that "under the sun" or this side of eternity, human beings can't grasp the coherence of life, including the "why" of illness. Rather, God provides His loving presence, through His people as a comfort to those suffering from illness.     

Suicide and masochism: The evolving relationship between guilt,suffering, self-attack and suicide

Masochism is a complex and intriguing phenomenon. Self-attack may serve many purposes. Some patients suffer through harsh self-criticism, bodily harm, or even tormenting thoughts of death, without actually killing themselves. Some of these patients ultimately may go on to die by suicide, but for many, the self-torturing aspect may exist independently in acute or chronic forms. This paper addresses the complex relationship between masochism and suicide as two separate yet interconnected phenomena.     

The original risk: overtheologizing ethics and undertheologizing sin.

The project of articulating a theological ethics on the basis of liturgical anthropology is bound to fail if the necessary consequence is that one has to quit the forum of critical modern rationality. The risk of Engelhardt's approach is to limit rationality to a narrow vision of reason. Sin is not to be understood as the negation of human holiness, but as the negation of divine holiness. The only way to renew theological ethics is to understand sin as the anthropological and ethical expression of the biblical message of the justification by faith only. Sin is therefore a secondary category, which can only by interpreted in light of the positive manifestation of liberation, justification, and grace. The central issue of Christian ethics is not ritual purity or morality, but experience, confession and recognition of our own injustice in our dealing with God and men.     

Not without hope: a Reformed analysis of sickness and sin.

A Reformed understanding of sickness requires that connections be drawn between the structural effects of sin and the ways that sickness is experienced in people's lives. Such an understanding can be an important resource for the bioethicist, both the bioethicist who speaks from the Reformed tradition and the bioethicist who speaks to patients and caregivers who may assume that sin and sickness are connected, but may understand that linkage in overly simplistic ways.     

生命科学家的社会伦理责任

生命科学的发展导致了复杂的伦理道德问题,对传统的社会道德观念形成了强烈的冲击.为了最大限度地避免和消除生命科学技术的负面效应,必须制定相应的科技政策和强有力的社会伦理道德规范来约束生命科学家的行为,增强生命科学家的社会责任感,使生命科学更好地为人类造福.     

Sin and suffering in a Catholic understanding of medical ethics.

Drawing chiefly on recent sources, in Part One I sketch an untraditional way of articulating what I claim to be central elements of traditional Catholic morality, treating it as based in virtues, focused on the recipients ("patients") of our attention and concern, and centered in certain person-to-person role-relationships. I show the limited and derivative places of "natural law," and therefore of sin, within that framework. I also sketch out some possible implications for medical ethics of this approach to moral theory, and briefly contrast these with the influential alternative offered by the "principlism" of Beauchamp and Childress. In Part Two, I turn to a Catholic understanding of the nature and meaning of human suffering, drawing especially on writings and addresses of the late Pope John Paul II. He reminds us that physical and mental suffering can provide an opportunity to share in Christ's salvific sacrifice, better to see the nature of our earthly vocation, and to reflect on the dependence that inheres in human existence. At various places, and especially in my conclusion, I suggest a few ways in which this can inform bioethical reflection on morally appropriate responses to those afflicted by physical or mental pain, disability, mental impairment, disease, illness, and poor health prospects. My general point is that mercy must be informed by appreciation of the person's dignity and status. Throughout, my approach is philosophical rather than theological.     

Can Collective Responsibility for Perpetrated Evil Persist over Generations?

In the first part of the paper an argument is developed to the effect that (1) there is no moral ground for individual persons to feel responsible for or guilty about crimes of their group to which they have in no way contributed; and (2) since there is no irreducibly collective responsibility nor guilt at any time, there is no question of them persisting over time. In the second part it is argued that there is nevertheless sufficient reason for innocent individual members of a group (that persists over time) to take on responsibility and guilt for the evil other (earlier) members have committed. The reason depends on the acceptability of a particular psychological theory of personal identity.     

Illness, disease and sin: the connection between genetics and spirituality.

The New Testament, while rejecting any superficial connection between illness and sin, does not reject a possible connection between illness and a person's relationship with God. An example can be seen in the story of the young blind man who was healed (St. John 9:3). His blindness does not result from any fault he or his parents had committed but apparently from God's wish to reveal his own healing power. The inner blindness of the Pharisees is a different type of blindness far more difficult to heal. The blind young man was actually healed, not only in body but also in soul. Such miraculous healings are rare nowadays. However, if one takes a closer look at modern genetics and psycho-neuro-immunological findings, one may come to a better understanding of how miracle healings are linked to man's inner life and therefore also to his religiousness. Many diseases have genetic backgrounds. Defective genes, however, do not necessarily lead to subsequent illness. Genes have to be switched on or off. Only activated genes trigger pathological change. The human brain and all of man's thinking and feeling are intimately connected with such activations. We may thus conclude that both inner life and religious outlook on life are relevant to the origin and development of diseases.     

Disease, suffering, and sin: one Anglican's perspective.

This article explores some of the implications of understanding sin as failure of perception. The theological underpinning of the argument is the choice made in the Garden of Eden to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge rather than the fruit of the tree of life, or wisdom. This has led to distorted perception, in which all things are seen as having separate, independent existences rather than joined together by their common divine source and their deep interrelatedness in the covenant made with God. The article discusses the fascination with the principle of respect for autonomy in the light of this theology. It also looks at perceptions of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. It finishes with a definition of repentance that makes right perception possible.     

Sin, sickness, and salvation.

This article seeks to provide commentary and rationale for Orthodox Christian rites and prayers for the sick as found in the Euchologion, or Book of Needs. The reader needs to understand that the prayers of the Orthodox Church prayed at times of sickness and suffering will often strike the non-Orthodox as harsh and even unjust. References to God willing suffering do not sit well with most Western Christians. However, this is the Orthodox Christian belief, and it is expressed in the prayers of the Orthodox Church. Sickness and suffering are understood to be avenues of salvation and a participation in the glory and joys of the resurrection of Christ and life in the Kingdom of God. This is why the Orthodox Church teaches her faithful to accept suffering as something that has the potential to bring them further along in the process of theosis.     

Associations Among Family Structure,Demographics, and Adolescent Perceived Life Satisfaction

Relationships between perceived life satisfaction and family structure were examined among 5,021 public high school adolescents using the self-report CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Adjusted multiple logistic regression analyses and multivariate models (via SUDAAN) constructed separately, revealed significant race by gender effects. Living with other relatives, non-relatives, or guardians was significantly related (p < .01) to reported life dissatisfaction for all race and gender groups, except black males. However, white females and males living with both parents were significantly less likely (p < .001) to report dissatisfaction with life. Black females living with their mothers only were also significantly less likely (p < .001) to report dissatisfaction with life while black males living with their fathers only and white females living with their mother and another adult/adults were significantly more likely (p < .01) to report dissatisfaction with life. Differing family structures appear to exert disparate effects for life satisfaction on adolescents as a function of race and/or gender. Thus, a particular health promotion intervention may not benefit all adolescents. Intervention efforts must be tailored to adolescents’ specific race and gender characteristics.     

生命需要心理学理论与生命教育方法

＂生命需要心理学理论与生命教育方法＂是研究者开展了为期五年的生命发展研究后获得的心理学与教育学的研究成果。五年中,研究者以0～6岁正常学前儿童为对象,对其实行生命发展教育,获取了大量的生命发展事实,证明了：1）人类生命具有人人可遵循的生长发展规律——＂需要＂的生长发展规律;2）＂需要＂的生物性基础的早期建构是＂需要＂生长发展规律的核心内容;3）马斯洛的＂需要层次＂中心理需要的低级阶段——＂安全需要＂之前还存在一个生命的原始需要——以＂新奇、探索、操作＂为对象的＂需要＂,其贯穿在0～6岁的儿童早期生命阶段;4）0～6岁时期,＂儿童需要＂不是恒定的、稳定的、成熟的心理机能,而是处在生长过程中。＂需要＂强度的提升是0～6岁时期以＂需要＂为核心的心理整体建构的鲜为人知的生命法则;5）0～6岁时期＂需要＂的良好建构,使＂需要＂水平达到推动生命走向＂需要＂的最高层次——＂自我实现需要＂的强度;6）＂需要层次＂与生命质量存在着内在关联;7）儿童＂原始需要＂满足的方法为：在儿童＂原始需要＂机能强度与寓含＂新奇、探索、操作＂属性的＂原始需要＂对象即外部刺激之间建立起犹如昆虫与花类般默契的真正联系。     

生命哲学视角下姑息治疗的追问与反思

姑息治疗是疾病谱变动下医学观念和治疗目的的重要转变,它的出现标志着单纯追求延迟生命长度的医疗时代的结束,生命质量也同样得到重视。然而,姑息治疗的理念在我国出现以来备受争议。首先阐明了姑息治疗的概念和内涵,并从生命的双重性和死亡的尊严角度对其概念和内涵进行审视和阐明。在此基础上,从生命哲学中的生命神圣论和生命质量论的观点进一步剖析姑息治疗医患关系矛盾的产生根源,以期为解决姑息治疗下医患双方的矛盾提供参考。     

Life history and vocational interests

To obtain some information concerning the antecedents of various forms of vocational interests, scores on the 22 basic interest scales of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) were correlated with 389 life history or autobiographical data items. Items yielding significant correlations were clustered on the basis of item content. The clusters obtained for the business management, science, and adventure scales are presented and discussed. Subsequently, certain general conclusions are drawn concerning the life history correlates of inventoried vocational interests.