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The field of biomedical technology has experienced rapid growth in
recent years. New technologies promise to diagnose, treat, and
prevent human diseases. Increasingly, however, the ability of these
technologies to "enhance" normal human functioning beyond what is
necessary to restore or sustain health has raised considerable
debate about the proper limits of biotechnology. Whereas the
public-facing proponents of bioenhancements tend to come from
privileged positions in society, Bioenhancement Technologies and
the Vulnerable Body seeks to analyze the nuances of bioenhancement
from the perspective of those who are often marginalized in
bioethical discussions. Any moral assessment of technology must
consider its effects on all people, principally those who have not
benefited equally from technological advancements. From the premise
that minority perspectives yield new insights into biomedical
enhancements, this volume centers the bodies of persons who are
vulnerable to health disparities--particularly persons with
disabilities and persons of color. Contributors critically examine
bioenhancement technologies with two key questions in mind: What
does it mean to be human?, and What does it mean to be vulnerable?
Each chapter uses distinct Christian theological methods and
ontological suppositions to reflect on the distinctiveness of human
creatureliness in relation to technology and what difference
bioenhancement might make for our conceptions of vulnerability.
Bioenhancement Technologies and the Vulnerable Body is aimed
primarily at Christian scholars and graduate students already
conversant in bioethics but will also appeal to contextual
theologians and others not well-versed in these debates.
This book uses insights from disability studies to understand in a
deeper way the ethical implications that genetic technologies pose
for Christian thought. Theologians have been debating genetic
engineering for decades, but what has been missing from many
theological debates is a deep concern for persons with genetic
disabilities. In this ambitious and stimulating book, Devan Stahl
argues that engagement with metaphysics and a theology of nature is
crucial for Christians to evaluate both genetic science and the
moral use of genetic technologies, such as human genetic
engineering, gene therapy, genetic screenings, preimplantation
genetic diagnosis, and gene editing. Using theological notions of
creation ex nihilo and natural law alongside insights from
disability studies, the book seeks to recast the debate concerning
genetic well-being. Following the work of Stanley Hauerwas, Stahl
proposes the church as the locus for reimagining disability in a
way that will significantly influence the debates concerning
genetic therapies. Stahl’s project in “genethics” proceeds
with an acute awareness of her own liberal Protestant tradition’s
early embrace of the eugenics movement in the name of scientific
and medical advancement, and it constructively engages the Catholic
tradition’s metaphysical approach to questions in bioethics to
surpass limitations to Protestant thinking on natural law.
Christianity has all too frequently been complicit in excluding,
degrading, and marginalizing people with disabilities, but the new
Christian metaphysics developed here by way of disability
perspectives provides normative, theological guidance on the use of
genetic technologies today. As Stahl shows in her study, only by
heeding the voices of people with disabilities can Christians
remain faithful to the call to find Christ in “the least of
these” and from there draw close to God. This book will be of
interest to scholars in Christian ethics, bioethics, moral
theology, and practical theology.
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