E-Book Overview
At the Roots of Christian Bioethics explores Professor H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.'s pursuit for the decisive ground of the meaning of human existence and knowledge of appropriate moral choice. Engelhardt has been the most influential, cogent, but critical voice within bioethics of the past several decades. The essays in this volume compass epistemological, methodological and topical contributions to bioethics, political theory, and Christian theology. Each explores Engelhardt's diagnosis of the contemporary social and cultural crisis, seeking to make sense of the decidedly post-Christian and often openly anti-Christian ethics that dominates public morality and politic policy. Each author investigates Engelhardt's personal and tireless enquiry to secure ultimate moral foundations as well as to recognize the full implications of the results of his investigations: that Christian bioethics does not originate in human reason but in the command of God. The book should be read by bioethicists, philosophers, religious scholars, public policy experts, and the Orthodox faithful.
E-Book Content
At the Roots of Christian Bioethics Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.
Edited by
Ana Smith Iltis Department of Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri and
Mark J. Cherry Department of Philosophy, St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas
Published by M & M Scrivener Press 3 Winter Street, Salem, MA 01970 www.scrivenerpublishing.com Copyright © 2010 M & M Scrivener Press ISBN-13: 978-09764041-8-7 ISBN-10: 0-9764041-8-4 Cover design by Russell Richardson Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data At the roots of Christian bioethics : critical essays on the thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. / edited by Ana Smith Iltis and Mark J. Cherry. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-9764041-8-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Bioethics. 2. Bioethics—Religious aspects— Christianity. 3. Engelhardt, H. Tristram (Hugo Tristram), 1941- I. Iltis, Ana Smith. II. Cherry, Mark J. QH332.A88 2010 241’.64957—dc22 2009042388
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote shortpassages for use in a review for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, broadcast or website. Printed in United States of America on acid-free paper.
Contents
Acknowledgements
v
Thomas J. Bole, III Foreword Engelhardt: Brief Biographical Reflections Mark J. Cherry and Ana S. Iltis Introduction At the Foundations of Christian Bioethics; or, Why H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.’s Orthodox Christian Bioethics is so very Counter-Cultural
vii
1
Part I: Re-reading Engelhardt: The Old and the New Corinna Delkeskamp-Hayes Morality in a Post-Modern, Post-Christian World: Engelhardt’s Diagnosis and Therapy
23
Ruiping Fan A Confucian Student’s Dialogue with Teacher Engelhardt
71
Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J. Completing the Picture: Engelhardt’s Christian Bioethics
89
Part II: Challenges to Engelhardt’s Orthodox Christian Theology Gerald McKenny Desire for the Transcendent: Engelhardt and Christian Ethics
iii
107
M. Cathleen Kaveny Down by Law: Engelhardt, Grisez, and the Meanings of “Legalism”
135
Christopher Tollefsen Missing Persons: Engelhardt and Abortion
165
Frederic J. Fransen Engelhardt the Anabaptist: Pursuing Ascetic Holiness in the Spirit of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.’s The Foundations of Christian Bioethics
181
Part III: Christian Bioethics, Moral Plurali