Bioethics After God - (Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics and Bioethics) by Mark J Cherry (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Bioethics after God explores the relationship between morality and medicine in a society that has denied the existence of God.

Medicine and bioethics are going through profound changes in the Western world. Practices that prior generations would have recognized as morally impermissible, such as abortion, eugenics, and euthanasia, are becoming central components of modern health care. Bioethics after God argues that in the process of rejecting its Christian roots, the Western world has upended traditional understandings of truth that are central to both scientific and moral judgment. The effect is felt throughout medicine as health care professionals increasingly work without the context and guidance provided by traditional Christian ethics.

Cherry uses the conceptual framework of "weak bioethics"--bioethics solely informed by the stark limits of secular morality--to delve into shifting concepts of health and disease, the active embrace of ethically fraught practices, and technological developments such as brain transplantation and humanoid robots designed for sexual activity. The implications of a bioethics after God are wide-ranging and profound, and Cherry challenges us to consider the repercussions of pushing forward in medicine without the support of a solid ethical foundation.

Review Quotes

"Bioethics After God is a significant contribution to the field of bioethics literature today because of its call for a renewal of bioethics centered on an encounter with God. The book shows detailed and extensive research and engagement with the social sciences and a wide range of philosophical sources and has an expansive section of notes. Written for an educated popular audience, it might be particularly of interest to those working in health care." --The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly

"This text was a joy to read. A number of its claims are not easy to grapple with, but they are well argued, clearly and politely presented, and should be taken seriously by those who are sympathetic and those who are opposed to the analysis." --Bryan Pilkington, Seton Hall University

"Mark Cherry's Bioethics after God carries on the important project and legacy of H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr. of showing that the attempt to provide a universal foundation of ethics and bioethics outside the lived religious world of traditional Christianity is doomed to fail. Cherry is an invaluable voice for a view that needs both a hearing and a response." --Christopher Tollefsen, co-author of The Way of Medicine

About the Author

Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics and professor of philosophy at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas. He is author of Kidney for Sale by Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market and Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars.