BioEngagement: Making a Christian Difference through Bioethics Today

While the Christian church has experienced extraordinary growth over the last century, Western culture has continued its seemingly inexorable drift into post-Christian forms. The contrast between our burgeoning churches and the scant impact that Christians have on public policy, the university, or the professions is distressing. And nowhere is this development more evident -- and more consequential -- than in the field of bioethics, where the dignity of human beings is constantly open to redefinition, and where much of our inheritance is coming under withering fire from those whose values are radically distinct from the Judeo-Christian tradition. This new volume takes seriously the Christian mandate to engage modern culture, giving specific attention to the urgent need for moral leadership as we encounter the difficult challenges posed by biotechnology. These insightful chapters by twenty leading activists, academics, and professionals discuss the contributions that a Christian perspective can and should make to the biomedical debate in today's most important forums -- public policy and law, education, media, health care, and the church itself.

Gilbert Meilaender

"At a time when the church can expect relatively little help from the culture to shape lives in Christian ways, we need to think carefully about how faith engages our culture—and nowhere more so than in the area of bioethics, where the very meaning of our humanity often seems at stake. BioEngagement opens up fruitful lines of inquiry for such reflection by all who work in medicine, law, and education."