DESCRIPTION: In our age of technology, the most fundamental issues concerning the beginning of life (e.g. prenatal screening, abortion, reproductive technologies, embryonic stem cell research) and death (e.g. active and passive euthanasia, organ and tissue donation, quality vs. quantity of life) have become dizzyingly complicated. Additionally, it is challenging to know how Scripture can inform these ethical issues, given the distance of the Biblical world from our medicalized, biotechnological society. This course offers an opportunity to investigate both secular and religious approaches, with an emphasis on how Christians uniquely understand these issues from within the story of God.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: This course focuses not only on cognitive ethical arguments surrounding these issues but also on the responsibility of Christians to be a compassionate presence in a culturally, religiously, and morally pluralistic world. At the very least, all of us face our own death. This course should therefore be relevant to missionaries, laypeople, therapists, ministers--all who wish to offer Christian hope and healing amidst the joys and sadnesses that arise at the beginning and end of life.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Students will gain a rudimentary understanding of the biology and science involved in bioethical issues. (2) They will reflect on the intersection of Christian faith and technology, learning from church tradition and biblical texts even as they recognize the unique ethical challenges of our era. (3) Students will be equipped to discuss with believers and nonbelievers the complexities of these moral issues. (4) Through thoughtful discussion and reasoned arguments, students will develop a distinctively Christian framework by which they can analyze and respond to bioethical issues.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will consist of interactive lectures with occasional movies and documentaries. Guest speakers will share from their experiences as patients, hospital chaplains, and the like. The course will meet twice weekly for two-hour sessions for ten weeks. Note: Students must read assigned material not only to facilitate discussion but also to assure their academic success on occasional quizzes.

REQUIRED READING:

dell'Oro, Roberto, and Carol Taylor, eds. Health and Human Flourishing: Religion, Medicine, and Moral Anthropology. Georgetown University Press, 2006. Selected readings approx. 100 pages. ISBN 978-1589010796. Pub price $29.95.

Pence, Gregory. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of Cases that Have Shaped Medical Ethics, with Philosophical, Legal, and Historical Backgrounds. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Selected reading approx. 200 pages. ISBN 978-0073535739. Pub. price $40.00.

Verhey, Allen. Reading the Bible in the Strange World of Medicine. Eerdmans, 2003. Selected reading approx. 300 pages. ISBN 978-0802822635. Pub. price $36.00.

Wheeler, Sondra Ely. Stewards of Life: Bioethics and Pastoral Care. Abingdon, 1996. 132 pages. ISBN 978-0687020874. Pub. price $18.00.

Other readings, including Catholic documents available free via the Internet, selections totaling approx. 200 pages.

One of the following:

Bregman, L. Beyond Silence and Denial: Death & Dying Reconsidered. Westminster John Knox, 1999 (2004). ISBN 978-0664258023. 208 pages. Pub. price $30.00.

OR Hall, Amy Laura. Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction. Eerdmans, 2007. 400 pages. ISBN 978-0802839367. Pub. price $32.00.