Summer 2020/Pasadena

ET535

Dufault-Hunter

ET535: THE ETHICS OF LIFE AND DEATH (4 Units: 160 hours). Erin Dufault-Hunter.

DESCRIPTION: This course considers ethical concerns arising at the beginning life (e.g. prenatal screening, abortion, infertility, reproductive technologies, embryonic stem cell research), through chronic conditions and urgent health crises, and finally considers medicalization of our dying process. Given the cultural distance of the biblical world from our biotechnological society, some find it challenging to know how Scripture informs our relationship to medicine and health care. This course investigates secular and religious approaches while assuming that the Scripture and the Christian tradition remain central for living faithfully as embodied creatures. The course also serves as the ethics course for many Marriage and Family Therapy students, and the course encourages all students to apply the material within their own vocation and context.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will understand dominant approaches to bioethics in the West as well as major criticisms of and alternatives to this framework. (2) Students will identify key medical, cultural, economic, psychological, and theological factors in bioethics and their influence on moral discernment. (3) Students will practice empathy with others when discussing bioethical concerns in light of lived experience. (4) Students will integrate course content with their life and vocation by articulating a moral and spiritual framework, one that accounts for our need to be formed for a faithful response to human vulnerability and suffering.

COURSE FORMAT: This course will be conducted online on a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.Course will also include as guest lectures and podcasts from those with personal experience with course content.

REQUIRED READING: Approximately 800 pages required

Kotva, J., Stephen E. Lammers, M. Therese Lysaught, & Allen Verhey, Eds. On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics. 3rd ed., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012. ISBN: 978-0802866011, Pub. Price $131.50. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library. Note: You cannot use a previous edition of this text for this course. [300 pp. assigned].

Rice, Richard. Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain. IVP Academic, 2014. ISBN: 978-0830840373, Pub. Price: $20.00. [164 pp assigned] Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library

Other readings, viewing on contemporary issues in bioethics available via the Internet and eReserves [300 pp. assigned].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. Attendance & participation (listening to online lectures + required reading) (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1, 2] [60 hours].
  2. Short quizzes on the reading (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1, 2] [15 hours]
  3. Short discussion forums on course content (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1-3] [15 hours]
  4. Interview and 2000-word theological reflection paper on experience of health care or crisis, to be shared virtually with class small group (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 2-3] [35 hours].
  5. 2000-2500 word integration paper articulating your framework for moral discernment within your vocational context (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #4] [35 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH5 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.

NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change. Copyright 2019 Fuller Theological Seminary.