Christian Bioethics in a Western Europe after Christendom

Europe has taken on a new, post-Christian, if not a somewhatanti-Christian character. The tension between Western Europe'sever more secular present and its substantial Christian pastlies at the heart of Western Europe's current struggle to articulatea coherent cultural and moral identity. The result is that WesternEuropean mainline churches are themselves in the midst of anidentity crisis, thus compounding Western Europe's identitycrisis. Christian bioethics in Europe exists against the backdropof these profound cultural cross currents that define the Europeancondition, engender conflicts regarding the meaning of beingWestern European and being Christian, and bring the public significanceand role of Western European bioethics, especially Western EuropeanChristian bioethics, into question. The dominant culture ofthe public forum is post-Christian and post-traditional, althoughtraditional Christianity still asserts its voice. Denis Müllerin his paper has clarified the choice between a traditional-fundamentalistChristian Bioethics and a revisionist, progressive ChristianBioethics.     

Christian Bioethics in Europe: In Defense against Reductionist Influences from the United States

Christian ideas have continued to inspire European bioethicsuntil now. The central thesis of this essay is that the open-mindednessof Roman Catholic and other Christian denominations in Europeis crucial for understanding why Christian ethics is so wellintegrated in the European culture. The essay describes firstthe institutional frameworks in which these Christian mainlyRoman Catholic ideas are developed. It analyzes further thedifference between the secular Anglo-American and European bioethicsas it has been influenced by these Christian ideas. It finallysummarizes the challenges to which Europe's Christian bioethicalidentity is presently exposed to. The essay states that theChristian inspiration of European bioethics is mainly connectedwith the ideologically moderate, tolerant, and dialogical participationof Christian bioethicists in the bioethical debate in Europe.     

How Christian Norms Can Have an Impact on Bioethics in a Pluralist and Democratic Europe: A Scandinavian Perspective

This article assesses the similarity and difference betweenthe Western European style of doing bioethics and the Scandinavianone. First, it reviews the introductory article by the editor,C. Delkeskamp-Hayes in the first issue of Christian Bioethics(2008), devoted to the possibility of a specifically Christianbioethics in Europe. Second, it analyses bioethics debates inScandinavian today. In light of Delkeskamp-Hayes' article, themain similarity is that both regions are facing secularizationas a threat to basic Christian values, for example, to the Christianview of the sanctity and dignity of the human life. But theScandinavian tends to reduce Christian bioethics to Luther'sconcept of the worldly kingdom, supposed to foster a dialoguebetween Christians and non-Christians on controversial ethicalissues. Despite the positive value of the dialogue, this strategyrenders Christian ethics powerless. Third, from an evangelicaltheological standpoint, it proposes some strategies for enhancingthe influence of Christian commitments on bioethical laws andpolicies.     

The Motive of the Incarnation in Christian Theology: Consequences for Modern Cosmology,Extraterrestrial Intelligence and a Hypothesis of Multiple Incarnations

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the question of the possibility of multiple species-specific incarnations of God in the societies of extraterrestrial beings (if they exist) on exoplanets, proposed for the debate in a recent volume on Astrlotheology. It gives a scientific, philosophical and theological assessment of some of its claims and concludes by formulating the position of the author on multiple incarnations in the context of modern cosmology and Orthodox theology.     

A Christian for the Christians, a Christian for the Muslims! An Attempt at an Argumentum ad Hominem

Schmidt and Egler's critique of Christianity's exclusivist claimto truth rests on two suppositions: (a) that inter-religiouspastoral care for dying patients requires a respect for theircultural backgrounds which necessitates accepting the equalvalidity of their respective (non-Christian) religions, and(b) that exclusivism is incompatible with the Christian love-of-neighborcommandment. In opposition to this critique, (a) the authors'own "pluralist" understanding of Christianity is refuted ontwo levels. First, it leads to inconsistencies in the authors'own (and very adequate) understanding of pastoral care, especiallywith regard to their notion of intolerance, and second, it isirreconcilable with explicit New and Old Testament claims toabsoluteness. In addition, (b) the authors' understanding ofthe way in which "exclusivism" justifies intolerance and missionaryviolence is shown to rest, first, on a secularized reductionof Christianity, i.e., of Christians' own "religious identity"as well as of the Christian way of "helping those in need,"and second, on a merely theoretical (rather than also practical)view of Christians' commitment to God. As a corollary to thatrefutation, a reconsideration of the truly Christian sourcesof obedience and charity is recommended.     

Christian Engagement with Public Bioethics in Britain: The Case of Human Admixed Embryos

This paper offers an assessment of the prospects for Christianengagement with public bioethical debates in a contemporaryBritish context. One recent example, the debate provoked byproposed legislation for research involving human admixed embryos,is examined briefly. It is argued that this debate has someproblematic features that are characteristic of public ethicaldebates in this context. Next, a proposal is offered as to howsuch bioethical questions may be approached from within a Christiantheological tradition (specifically, a Reformed Protestant tradition).This proposed approach makes use of four "diagnostic questions"to assess whether technological proposals and practices suchas the creation of human admixed embryos can be consistent withthe distinctive Christian narrative of creation, sin, salvationthrough Christ, and promised future hope. The final sectionoffers some reflections on how Christians and churches mightengage, on the basis of this theological approach, with publicethical debates such as the one about admixed embryos.     

Bioethics, Christian charity and the view from no place.

This essay contrasts the notions of charity employed by Traditional Christianity and by liberal cosmopolitan bioethics, arguing that: (1) bioethics attempts to reconstruct the notion of charity in a manner that is caustic to the Traditional Christian moral vision, (2) Christians are, on the whole, more charitable than proponents of bioethics' reconstructed view (even given the standards of the latter), and (3) the theistically oriented conception of charity employed by Traditional Christianity cannot be expressed in bioethics' purportedly neutral public vocabulary. The upshot is that, in the name of neutrality and pluralism, liberal cosmopolitan bioethicists seek to impose an impoverished moral vocabulary that reflects liberal cosmopolitan ideology while excluding input from Traditional Christianity and other non-liberal-humanistic moral visions.     

The philosophy of medicine in Europe: Challenges for the future

Two challenges face European philosophy of medicine. The first is to counterbalance what is seen as an overemphasis on social analysis of medicine with greater attention to its personal and individual dimensions. The second, related challenge, is to more fully understand the clinical realities of modern medicine, which in turn, give rise to the scope and limits of physician duties, patient obligations, and social concerns.     

Extreme Asceticism: Confucian Practice and Riesebrodt's Religious Virtuoso

The ascetic ideals initially established by Confucius are moderate and rational. Yet, virtuoso asceticism became a social phenomenon when the state desired to institute a more powerful channel to disseminate Confucian values in the broader populace beyond the literati. The reason that the cult of the virtuoso particularly served this purpose was that the enshrinement of virtuoso generated social power within community. That social power, somewhat equivalent to charisma, derived from the enshrined spirit's connection with transcendence having official and public offerings from community. The social process in the formation of the ascetic virtuoso and its social function in the Confucian tradition follow a pattern similar to that laid out by Martin Riesebrodt: denial of the physical self, restructuring of social relations, and spiritual transformation. Ascetic virtuosos stemming from the tradition of “inner‐worldly” asceticism closed a gap between a rationalized system of behavior‐regulating practices and interventionist practice with reference to transcendence.     

Bioethics in a Global Village

One goal of the transplant community is to seek ways to increase the number of people who are willing and able to donate organs. People in states between life and death are often medically excellent candidates for donating organs. Yet public policy surrounding organ procurement is a delicate matter. While there is the utilitarian goal of increasing organ supply, there is also the deontologic concern about respect for persons. Public policy must properly mediate between these two concerns. Currently the dead donor (dd) rule is appealed to as an attempt at such mediation. I argue that given the lack of consensus on a definition of death, the dd rule is no longer successful at mediating utilitarian and deontologic concerns. I suggest instead that focusing on a particular person's history can be successful.     

Recognition and Social Justice: A Roman Catholic View of Christian Bioethics of Long-Term Care and Community Service

Contemporary Christian ethics encounters the challenge to communicategenuinely Christian normative orientations within the scientificdebate in such a way as to render these orientations comprehensible,and to maintain or enhance their plausibility even for non-Christians.This essay, therefore, proceeds from a biblical motif, takesup certain themes from the Christian tradition (in particularthe idea of social justice), and connects both with a compellingcontemporary approach to ethics by secular moral philosophy,i.e. with Axel Honneth's reception of Hegel, as based on Hegel'stheory of recognition. As a first step, elements of an ethicsof recognition are developed on the basis of an anthropologicalrecourse to the conditions of intersubjective encounters. Theseconditions are then brought to bear on the idea of social justice,as developed in the social-Catholic tradition, and as systematicallyexplored in the Pastoral Letter of the United States Conferenceof Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice For All (1986). Proceedingfrom this basis, aspects of a Christian ethics of communityservice with regard to long-term care can be defined.     

Praying in a Secularized Society: An Empirical Study of Praying Practices and Varieties

Social scientific studies from the secular Netherlands has pointed out that religious rituals such as praying are still widely present. This study examines the content of the praying practices of the Dutch and distinguishes varieties of prayer by analyzing answers to open-ended questions of a representative Dutch survey (N = 1,008). It is concluded, first, that a majority of the Dutch prays. Second, four varieties of prayer are distinguished: petitionary, religious, meditative, and impulsive prayer. Comparing these varieties with types of prayer found in other empirical studies, it emerges that the petitionary and religious prayer are similar to classical prayers found in other studies from less secularized countries, whereas the meditative and impulsive prayers are fundamentally different from other prayer types and can be considered as examples of a praying practice in a secularized society.     

Orthodoxy Niches: Diversity in Congregational Orthodoxy Among Three Protestant Denominations in the United States

The organizational niche, a fruitful concept from the organizational ecology literature, frames this study on the diverse orthodoxy of congregations within the same denomination. Congregations diversify along a conservative‐to‐liberal continuum, which lessens niche overlap with nearby congregations in their denomination. Pastors and priests in United Methodist and Episcopal congregations in three U.S. regions were able to locate their congregations (and other congregations in their denomination in close proximity) along this conservative‐to‐liberal continuum, an indication that orthodoxy distinctions were important to congregational identity. In comparison, Assemblies of God congregations showed little intradenominational diversity in orthodoxy, since sectarian boundaries narrow their niche. Theoretical and methodological implications of this intradenominational diversity are explored.     

Toward a Better Bioethics

It has been argued that bioethicists too often tend to represent the interests of scientists and not of the broader polity. Indeed, bioethicists seem predisposed to discard the voices and viewpoints of all but the cognoscenti. Focusing particularly on human pluripotent stem cell research, this commentary explores a variety of characterizations of bioethics and bioethicists in relation to forbidding science. Rather than proselytizing or prohibiting, bioethicists should work in partnership with scientists and publics to craft scientifically well-informed and morally sophisticated debates about forbidding science.