New Genetic Medicine

Since the 1970s, the interrelated areas of medical genetics and biotechnology have developed dramatically and afforded increased control over the design of living organisms. From the very beginning, controversies over these techniques and their applications to plants, animals, and humans have raged in many disciplines—including science, philosophy, ethics, and religion. This book brings together the seminal essays of two leading Catholic moral theologians—Thomas Shannon and James Walter—in an effort to identify the key ethical and theological questions raised by the new genetic medicine. What is unique about this book is that it specifically and directly brings modern genetics and the Roman Catholic theological and ethical tradition into dialogue. While the authors argue that the Catholic tradition has much to offer in putting this current scientific revolution into perspective, they well understand the need to avoid merely repeating the tradition in favor of bringing the best of the tradition to bear on the precise questions posed by modern genetic technology.

From dramatic advances in medical genetics and biotechnology, controversies have emerged in the application of these techniques over the control and design of living organisms. This book brings together the seminal essays of two Catholic moral theologians in an effort to identify the key ethical and theological questions raised by the new genetic technology. Roman Catholic tradition meets modern medicine in dialogue to bring issues of faith, science, and ethical decision making into perspective.

Thomas A. Shannon is professor of religion and social ethics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is the author of many articles and books in Catholic Social thought, bioethics, and genetics. He is the editor of a series of readers in bioethics for Sheed & Ward. James J. Walter is Austin & Ann O'Malley Professor of Bioethics and director of the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University. He has written many articles and books on morality, medical ethics, and biotechnology, including A Call to Fidelity.