In the past several decades biotechnologies have provided patients with a multitude of means to address illness and disability. Some biotechnologies, such as reproductive technologies and genetic enhancements, have created significant questions about the appropriateness of medical progress, and carry ethical and social implications for society. Should biotechnology move full steam ahead? Or should we show some degree of restraint? Amid the clamoring of conflicting claims is a profound absence of the answer to a fundamental question: the ultimate goal of biotechnology. What guidelines are available? How should we assess advances in clinical medicine? For those with Christian commitments, how does one reconcile such concepts as human dignity with biotechnical progress? Is the manipulation of embryos, for instance, really progress?This book, an interdisciplinary effort by several scholars writing with one voice, a voice deeply influenced by Christian theology, reviews recent developments in genetics, nanontechnology, cybernetics, neuroscience and pharmacology that not only may lead to new tools for healing, but that can also be used to enhance or augment normal human function. The authors also look at how competing worldviews--philosophical and religious--assess such developments. After laying out a Christian anthropology, or understanding of human nature, they conclude with a discussion of the proper use of biotechnology to pursue human flourishing. While fully supportive of medical progress to combat disease, which might include research on human subjects, they are suspicious of medical attempts to "improve" human nature.

From drone warfare to gay marriage, the modern world is full of ethical conundrums stemming from a plethora of amazing technological advances and dramatic cultural shifts.

Challenging the relativism so rampant in our society today, C. Ben Mitchell helps us thoughtfully engage our morally confused world in this introduction to ethics from a distinctly Christian perspective. Drawing on insights from key historical figures and modern Christian ethicists such as Stanley Hauerwas and N. T. Wright, this book will help you embrace a holistic approach to moral reasoning that is founded on Scripture and informed by history.

Aging is a fact of life, and issues surrounding it are hot. There are currently 35 million Americans over the age of sixty-five - more than ever. This demographic shift is noteworthy not only because the ranks of the elderly will continue to swell in coming years but also because it is taking place in what the editors of this book call an "ageist society," one that increasingly loathes every facet of aging. Indeed, the ethical issues associated with aging are among the thorniest in medicine and public policy today. Aging, Death, and the Quest for Immortality is a timely volume by physicians, health-care professionals, pastors, and ethicists who explore the experiences, dilemmas, and possibilities associated with aging. The book opens by offering three distinct perspectives on aging; this section includes practical suggestions for dealing with retirement, disability, healing, and death. Several contributors then analyze controversial ethical issues raised by aging and health care, including medical decision-making, the moral standing of patients with dementia, health-care rationing, and assisted suicide. A third group of essays applies a theology of care to ministry to and through older adults, the counseling of seniors, and the application of palliative care. The book closes by discussing some of the emerging technologies and interest groups aimed at achieving immortality, also asking, appropriately, what insights the Christian faith brings to the discussion. Reflecting much wisdom and sensitivity, this book will give welcome help to care providers and to those who are themselves in the later stages of life.