GenEthics and Religion

Opis

Human gene and cell technology is a diverse and rapidly evolving field of research. As genes represent the 'blueprint' of an organism, their analysis and manipulation is a challenge to our understanding of human nature. Stem cell research, genetic testing, gene therapy, therapeutic and reproductive cloning - all these fields of application have been raising fundamental ethical and religious-theological questions: When does human life begin? Should human beings be allowed to interfere with natural procreation or to manipulate the genome of their own species? Is genetic engineering tantamount to 'playing God'? Based on the symposium 'GenEthics and Religion' held in Basel, Switzerland in May 2008, this volume examines the role religion can play in establishing ethical guidelines to protect human life in the face of rapid advances in biology and especially gene technology. It does so in a multidisciplinary way with contributions by philosophers, theologians, human geneticists, and several bioethicists representing the Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist perspectives. The essays illustrating a diversity of views and expressing the problems and self-critical reflectiveness of religious ethicists have been brought up to date and discuss the importance of religious ethics in society’s discourse on gene technology.

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Cover 2
Contents 6
Introduction 8
- Beyond Playing God: Critical Religious GenEthics for Pluralistic Societies 8
  - Playing God? 8
  - Foundations: Hermeneutic and Conceptional Reflections 9
  - The Function of Religion in GenEthical Debates: Critical Analyses 10
  - Examining Constructive Efforts of Religious Genethics 12
  - Beyond Playing God 17
  - Context, Acknowledgments, and Dedication 18
- Foundations: Hermeneutic and Conceptional Reflections 19
  - Genes – Cells – Interpretations 19
    - Prologue 19
    - Hermeneutics 21
    - Political Texts 22

Cover 2
Contents 6
Introduction 8
- Beyond Playing God: Critical Religious GenEthics for Pluralistic Societies 8
  - Playing God? 8
  - Foundations: Hermeneutic and Conceptional Reflections 9
  - The Function of Religion in GenEthical Debates: Critical Analyses 10
  - Examining Constructive Efforts of Religious Genethics 12
  - Beyond Playing God 17
  - Context, Acknowledgments, and Dedication 18
- Foundations: Hermeneutic and Conceptional Reflections 19
  - Genes – Cells – Interpretations 19
    - Prologue 19
    - Hermeneutics 21
    - Political Texts 22
    - Metaphysical Texts 23
    - Who Is the Author of the Genetic Text? 29
    - We Do Our Genes 31
    - References 33
  - Controversies about Human Dignity: Implications for Biotechnology 35
    - Introduction 35
    - Conception I: HD as a Standard of Duties or Rights 36
    - Conception II: HD as a Standard of Virtue 38
    - Conflicting Appeals to HD in Public Bioethics: The Example of Human Genetic Enhancement 40
    - A Public Precautionary Process 42
    - References 45
  - The Function of Religion in GenEthical Debates: Critical Analyses 47
    - Global Bioethics, Theology, and Human Genetic Engineering: The Challenge of Refashioning Human Nature in the Face of Moral and R 47
      - There Is No Substantive Secular Global Bioethics to Guide Human Genetic Engineering 47
      - The Plurality of Moralities 48
      - The Illusion of Consensus 50
      - Separated by Heresy and Disbelief 51
      - Always a View from Somewhere 56
      - References 57
    - Eschewing Images of Man: Against Anthropological Reductionism in Bioethics 59
      - Religious Language: Radical Openness to Interpretation 60
      - The Dignity of God Seems Not to Be Inviolable: The Abuse of Religious Language in Ethics 61
      - Eschewing Images of Man: Against Anthropological Reductionism in Bioethics 63
      - References 66
    - Children, Bodies, Life: Ethics as the Churches’ Biopolitics 67
      - Power of the Churches 68
      - Human Life as a Biological Entity 69
      - Bioethicization of the Churches’ Positions 72
      - Time Factor 75
      - Five Theses 77
      - References 79
    - On the Ethics Debate between Theologians, Scientists and Doctors: Experiences, Observations and Commentaries of a Medical Geneti 81
      - Premises 81
      - What, in the View of Doctors or Natural Scientists, Should Theologians Contribute to the Debate? 82
      - What Meaning Do Natural Scientists and Doctors Attach to the Terms ‘Facts, Data, Truth’? 83
      - Beware of Simplification, Generalization and Polarization 85
      - Who May Give the Answers? 86
      - Fostering an Interdisciplinary Dialogue 86
      - References 87
    - Examining Constructive Efforts of Religious GenEthics (I): Christian Theological GenEthics 89
      - ‘Biopower’ – Ethical and Theological Considerations 89
        
        Biopower: Moratorium Instead of Ban? 89
        
        In vivo Cloning and in vitro Cloning – Biopower in the ‘Politics of Language’ 93
        
        Theological Arguments on the Ethics of Human Genetics 98
        
        The Anthropological Question: The Ethical ‘Status’ of the Early Embryo 102
        
        The So-Called ‘Freedom of Procreation’ and the Instrumentalization of Women 104
        
        Further Reading 106
        
        References 106
      - First Sheep, Then Human Beings? Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Use of Gene Technology 108
        
        Limits of Nature – Limits of Ethics? 108
        
        The Right Not to Know 109
        
        The Right to Natural Birth and Genetic Chance 111
      - Is the Human Genome Sacred? 115
        
        A Rumor Out of Control 116
        
        Is the Gene Myth Warranted? 117
        
        Are We Really Playing God? 117
        
        The Chimera Question 119
        
        Avoiding Bio-Idolatry 121
        
        From Nature to Naturalism 122
        
        References 124
      - Examining Constructive Efforts of Religious GenEthics (II): Jewish, Islamic, and Buddhist GenEthics 125
        
        The Jewish Perspective on GenEthics 125
        
        Preserving Human Life 126
        
        Development and Nascent Human Life 127
        
        Openness to Technology 131
        
        Conclusion 133
        
        References 134
        
        Human Genetic Technologies and Islamic Bioethics 136
        
        The Fiqh and the Maqasid al-Shariah 137
        
        New Frontiers in Human Genetics and the Maqasid al-Shariah 138
        
        References 143
        
        Conclusion 143
        
        Buddhism and Human Genome Research 145
        
        Buddhism and Science 146
        
        Buddhist Ethics 146
        
        The Human Genome Project and Human Values 150
        
        Genetic Manipulation and Human Dignity 151
        
        Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research 152
        
        Conclusion 155
        
        References 157
        
        Author Index 158
        
        Subject Index 159

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