Bioethics Yearbook [electronic resource] : Theological Developments in Bioethics: 1990-1992

308 Pages·1993·33.4 MB·English

by  Center for Ethics, Medicine and Public Issues

Bioethics Yearbook
VOLUME3
THEOLOGICALDEVELOPMENTSINBIOETHICS:
1990-1992
Bioethics Yearbook
VOLUME3
Bioethics Yearbook
VOLUME 3
THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BIOETHICS:
1990-1992
THE CENTER FOR ETHICS, MEDICINE AND PUBUC ISSUES
Baylor College ofM edicine
The Institute of Religion
Rice University
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Edited by
B. Andrew Lustig, Senior Editor
Baruch A. Brody, Director
H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.
Laurence B. McCullough
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
ISBN 978-94-010-4833-0 ISBN 978-94-011-1886-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-1886-6
ISSN 0926-261 X
Printed on acid-free paper
An Rights Reserved
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1993
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STAFF OF CENTER
Introduction vii
ALLEN D. VERHEY
Foreword xi
THEO A. BOER AND EGBERT SCHROTEN
Bioethical Issues in Protestant Continental Europe 1
JOSEPH BOYLE
The Roman CatholicTradition and Bioethics 19
COURTNEYS.CAMPBELL
Embodiment and Ethics: A Latter-Day Saint Perspective 43
PRAKASH N. DESAI AND B. ANDREW LUSTIG
Hindu and Indian Developments 69
JUDITH A. GRANBOIS AND DAVID H. SMITH
The Anglican Communion and Bioethics 83
STANLEYSAMUEL HARAKAS
Eastern Orthodox Bioethics 117
HASSAN HATHOUTAND B. ANDREW LUSTIG
Bioethical Developments in Islam 133
PAUL NELSON
Lutheran Perspectives on Bioethics 149
KATHLEEN NOLAN
Buddhism, Zen, and Bioethics 185
ROBERT L. SHELTON
Biomedical Ethics in Methodist Traditions 217
PAUL D. SIMMONS
Baptist-Evangelical Medical Ethics 243
AVRAHAM STEINBERG
Jewish Medical Ethics 271
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
KENNETH VAUX
Bioethics and the Reformed Tradition 281
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 291
ERRATA SHEET (for Volume II) 293
GENERAL INDEX 295
INDEX OFAUTHORS AND DOCUMENTS DISCUSSED 299
INTRODUCTION
TheCenterfor Ethics,Medicine,andPublicIssues,inconjunctionwithKluwer
Academic Publishers, is pleased to offer this third volume in our series of
Bioethics Yearbooks. The Yearbook series alternates between a biennial
volume tracing recent theological discussion on topics in bioethics and a
biennial volume tracing recent regional discussions in bioethics. Volume One
surveyed theological developments from 1988 through 1990. The present
volume continues that survey for the period from 1990 through 1992.
In this volume, as in Volume One, we haveinvited scholars ofrecognized
expertise to chronicle and, if they wish, to interpret recent bioethical
discussionsinthefollowingreligioustraditions:RomanCatholicism,theLatter
day Saints, Hinduism, the Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam,
Lutheranism,Buddhism,Methodism,Baptist-Evangelicalism,Judaism,andthe
ReformedTradition.ReadersofVolumeOnewill notethatwe haveexpanded
our coverage in a number of areas. For example, in addition to the authors
from Volume One who are again covering Protestant discussions, Drs. Theo
Boer and Egbert Schroten have contributed an excellent essay on Protestant
developments in continental Europe. For this and subsequent theological
volumes, Dr. Kathleen NolanhasassumeddutiesascommentatoronBuddhist
developments. Her masterful essay offers both a timely overview of recent
Buddhist contributions to bioethics and a broader discussion of Buddhist
sources that are generally under-reported to Western readers. In response to
suggestions from readers of Volume One, we also invited commentary on
Seventh-DayAdventist, Pentecostal, and liberal Jewish developments for this
volume. Unfortunately, the scholars we enlisted for those chapters were not
able to meet the deadline we must honor to assure the timely publication of
each yearbook in the series. However, we hope to include coverage ofthose
traditions, and perhaps others, in Volume Five.
As before, in order to retain a uniformity to the discussions within this
volume, aswell as amongvolumes in the series, we have askedour authors to
order their remarks, as much as possible, according to the following list of
topics: new reproductive technologies, abortion, maternal-fetal conflicts, care
of severely disabled newborns, consent to treatment and experimentation,
confidentiality, equitableaccessto health care, ethical concernsraisedbycost
containment measures, decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining
treatment, assisted suicide and active euthanasia, the definition ofdeath, and
organ donation and transplantation. As with Volume One, each author has
addressedonlythose topics onthe list that have been recentlydiscussed in his
or her tradition. In addition, authors were free to comment on issues not on
the list in a final broad category designated ·other issues·.
Each biennial theological Yearbook is an effort to meet the need for a
B.AndrewLustig(Sr. Ed.), BioethicsYearbook: Volume3,vii-ix.
"1993K1uwerAcademicPublishers.
VI11
singlevolumethatprovidescomprehensiveandtimelysummariesofdiscussions
in a number of religious traditions on specific topics in bioethics. We have
commissioned our expert commentators to trace recent trends and
developmentsintheirrespectivetraditions- bothformalstatementsbyofficial
bodies and study groups, and less formal discussions that reflect currents of
thought in the continuing dialogue on particular issues. At the same time, we
again left it to the discretion ofour authors to place 1990-1992developments
in broader context by including those background documents and discussions
they deemed necessary to clarify recent concerns.
Besidesofferingup-to-datesummariesofrecentdevelopments,ourauthors
have also provided useful bibliographical references to a wide array of
documents, many ofwhich would otherwise prove difficult for individuals to
knowabout,muchlesstoassemble.Asalways,weinviteourreaderstocontact
us with advice on ways to improve and expand the range of resources upon
which our authors may draw in subsequent theological volumes.
Bothsimilarities and differencesintheological method and inconclusions
on particular topics will be noted between and among the religious traditions
our authors cover. The interested reader may therefore be tempted to muse
about larger matters of fundamental theology or ecclesiology to account for
such agreement and divergence. But an immediate word ofcaution is clearly
inorder.A yearbook, ifsuccessful,achievesthe importantbutlimited purpose
its name implies. This volume is offered primarily as a summary and analysis
of recent theological discussion on specific topics. For scholars and others
interestedinseeinghowmorefundamental theologicalthemesandapproaches
may play themselves out on particular issues, this volume may serve to
exemplify those tendencies in concrete fashion. But it should not be
misinterpreted as an effort to discuss issues of foundational theology or
ecclesiology in other than incidental fashion.
Two other substantive points about Volume Three are in order. First,
certainauthors,intheir respectiveassignments, sometimesreport onthesame
documents and discussion on particular issues. For example, Drs. Boer and
Schroten, in their summary of European Protestant developments, discuss a
numberofLutherandocuments that Paul Nelson alsoanalyzes in hisessayon
the Lutheran tradition. In such cases, the different vantages of our
commentators may lead to subtle differences in perspective that we trust will
make such overlap instructive rather than redundant.
Second, although some commentators have a great deal that is new to
report on, official discussion in other traditions has been relatively modest. In
thelattercases,wehaveencouragedourcommentatorstoreflectmorebroadly,
according to their own lights, on the possible implications of fundamental
themes for particularbioethical issues. For example, Dr. Courtney Campbell,
in a verycreative essay, discusses the theologyofembodiment set forth in the
Latter-daySainttraditionand its relevance to a number ofdisputed issues.As
a second example, Dr. Prakash Dasai, the principal author of the essay on
ix
Hindu developments, emphasizes the need to safeguard human dignity as a
centralvalue,bothinpoliticaleffortstoendthereligiousstrifebetweenHindus
andMuslimsinIndiaandinthemorefocused discussionsofbioethics.Asboth
these examples attest, the slower pace of recent official discussion in some
traditions has not prevented those commentators from making important
contributions to Volume Three.
As is always true with a volume of this kind, the overall quality of the
yearbook depends primarily on the quality of the individual efforts of its
contributors. We trust that the scholarship ofour authors will be evident. But
inlessobviousways, theprofessionalcourtesyandresponsibilityofourauthors
has made the editing of Volume Three relatively easy. As with preceding
volumes, we owe special thanks to Delores D. Smith for her tireless
commitment to the daily chores involved in preparing Volume Three for
publication.
B. AndrewLustig, SeniorEditor
BaruchA. Brody, Editor, Directorofthe Centerfor Ethics
H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., Editor
Laurence B. McCullough, Editor