What can we possibly learn about our relationships to others from reading the story of an ancient father who raised a knife to slaughter his beloved only son? Contemporary Christian ethicists, faced with such dilemmas, are often tempted to treat the Hebrew Bible in a limited, distanced, and even dismissive way. Yet Emily Arndt here argues that ancient scriptures can be a vital resource for Christian ethical studies today. Focusing on a close analysis of the akedah the story of Abrahams near-sacrifice of Isaac she demonstrates the power of even the most troubling and uncomfortable Old Testament narratives to teach valuable ethical lessons. Placing ourselves in relationship to such complex, perhaps un-resolvable, and always challenging sacred texts, she says, is in itself a practice that can help us learn to relate authentically and ethically to others. This is a fully formed, sophisticated, and beautifully written book, offering an important contribution to the field of theological ethics...A fitting tribute to a scholarly career that was cut short all too soon. ("Foreward" by Jean Porter)
The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is rising, and not just among the wealthy and the weird. Media accounts of unnatural multiples (think Nadya Suleman) and aging celebrities having children (Cheryl Tiegs, twins at age 52; Jane Seymour, twins at age 45; Joan Lunden, two sets of twins through a surrogate at age 52 and 54) represent the exceptions, not the norm. The most common user of reproductive technologies today may be an average American couple or single woman unable to have children naturally.
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Americans use in-vitro fertilization (IVF) at a rate of 236 per 100,000 -- for a total of more than 70,000 nationwide. And that's just IVF; many other means of assisted reproduction are increasingly available. As Americans continue to delay child-bearing, and as the availability of fertility treatments rises, we can expect more and more Christian couples to make use of reproductive technologies. But how ethical are such treatments? What key issues should couples wrestle with before using any type of assisted procreation? These are the kinds of questions medical ethicist Scott Rae and Dr. Joy Riley seek to answer in Outside the Womb.
The authors don't condemn ART, but they do call Christians to give careful thought to what God intended for the family and to the ethical issues involved in various fertility treatments. Readers of the book will be better equipped to think morally and biblically about ART, both as a social issue and as a personal issue that affects their own friends, church members, and families.
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Ethics for a Brave New World Ethics for a Brave New World
This updated and revised second edition analyzes the currentliterature regarding various ethical issues. Includes a new chapteron stem cell research and expanded material on othertopics. This updated and revised second edition analyzes the currentliterature regarding various ethical issues. Includes a new chapteron stem cell research and expanded material on othertopics.
Using a wide range of contemporary sources books (including novels), magazines, newspapers, advertising, fashion catalogues, films and television, as well as a number of significant archive collections Nigel Yates argues that moral, religious and social change in the 1960s was only made possible by developments in the 1950s. He will also show how the pace of change was very different in provincial England, Scotland and Wales than it was in London and the south-east.
In an increasingly secularised society, the average person is unlikely to have a working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. THE WRITING ON THE WALL provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories.
Each chapter gives the full text of a story from the Bible and explains its original significance, then shows how this story has become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Ian McEwan, and The Beatles to Monty Python.
THE WRITING ON THE WALL opens up not just the Bible but also much of popular culture, and is for the everyday reader as well as the churchgoer.