Theology: Christian / Theological Ethics: Biomedical

A practical and thought provoking introduction to the most important ethical issues in medicine today. Over 700 entries, from short essays to brief definitions of key terms and concepts, have been contributed by leading clinicians and medical ethicists.

We use such words as "health," "disease," and "illness" all the time without stopping to consider exactly what we understand by them. Yet their meanings are far from straightforward, and disagreements over them have important practical consequences in health care and bioethics. In this book Neil Messer develops a distinctive and innovative theological account of these concepts. He engages in earnest with debates in the philosophy of medicine and disability studies and draws on a wide array of theological resources including Barth, Bonhoeffer, Aquinas, and recent disability theologies. By enabling us to understand health in the wider perspective of the flourishing and ultimate destiny of human beings, Messer's Flourishing sheds new light on a range of practical bioethical issues and dilemmas.

What role should religion play in a religiously pluralistic liberal society? Public bioethics unavoidably raises this question in a particularly insistent fashion. As the 20 papers in this collection demonstrate, the issues are complex and multifaceted. The authors address specific and highlycontested issues as assisted suicide, stem cell research, cloning, reproductive health, and alternative medicine as well as more general questions such as who legitimately speaks for religion in public bioethics, what religion can add to our understanding of justice, and the value of faith-basedcontributions to healthcare. Christian (Catholic and Protestant), Jewish, Islamic, and Buddhist viewpoints are represented. The first book to focus on the interface of religion and bioethics, this collection fills a significant void in the literature.

In print for more than two decades, On Moral Medicine remains the definitive anthology for Christian theological reflection on medical ethics. This third edition updates and expands the earlier awardwinning volumes, providing classrooms and individuals alike with one of the finest available resources for ethics-engaged modern medicine.

Is there a distinctive African perspective on right and wrong? Do ethical frameworks differ across cultures? Is there such a thing as a common global ethic? Do traditional African ethical views have anything to contribute to this global ethic? Can traditional African ethics survive in a world increasingly dominated by a single global economy?The contributors to this book show that there are distinctive common strands in African ethical views, although these need to be examined and challenged. They apply these strands to very different contexts: the worlds of business, medicine, government, political change and gender relationships.The authors reveal that despite their rootedness in a past culture, African ethics are in a continuous state of development and change, and have a considerable contribution to make to an emerging global ethic. This book demands that the African voice is heard.

This book explores the scope, application and role of medical law, regulatory norms and ethics, and addresses key challenges introduced by contemporary advances in biomedical research and healthcare. While mindful of national developments, the handbook supports a global perspective in its approach to medical law. Contributors include leading scholars in both medical law and ethics, who have developed specially commissioned pieces in order to present a critical overview and analysis of the current state of medical law and ethics. Each chapter offers comprehensive coverage of longstanding and traditional topics in medical law and ethics, and provides dynamic insights into contemporary and emerging issues in this heavily debated field. Topics covered include: Bioethics, health and human rights Medical liability Law and emerging health technologies Public health law Personalized medicine The law and ethics of access to medicines in developing countries Medical research in the genome era Emerging legal and ethical issues in reproductive technologies This advanced level reference work will prove invaluable to legal practitioners, scholars, students and researchers in the disciplines of law, medicine, genetics, dentistry, theology, and medical ethics.

The field of bioethics was deeply influenced by religious thinkers as it emerged in the 1960s and early 1970s. Since that time, however, a seemingly neutral political liberalism has pervaded the public sphere, resulting in a deep suspicion of those bringing religious values to bear on questions of bioethics and public policy. As a theological ethicist and progressive Catholic, Lisa Sowle Cahill does not want to cede the "religious perspective" to fundamentalists and the pro-life movement, nor does she want to submit to the gospel of a political liberalism that champions individual autonomy as holy writ. In Theological Bioethics, Cahill calls for progressive religious thinkers and believers to join in the effort to reclaim the best of their traditions through jointly engaging political forces at both community and national levels. In Cahill's eyes, just access to health care must be the number one priority for this type of "participatory bioethics." She describes a new understanding of theological bioethics that must go beyond decrying injustice, beyond opposing social practices that commercialize human beings, beyond painting a vision of a more egalitarian future. Such a participatory bioethics, she argues, must also take account of and take part in a global social network of mobilization for change; it must seek out those in solidarity, those involved in a common calling to create a more just social, political, and economic system. During the past two decades Cahill has made profound contributions to theological ethics and bioethics. This is a magisterial and programmatic statement that will alter how the religiously inclined understand their role in the great bioethics debates of today and tomorrow that yearn for clear thinking and prophetic wisdom.