Children, Theology, and Bioethics - (Emerging Perspectives in Pastoral Theology and Care) by Jessica Bratt Carle (Hardcover)

About the Book

"When it comes to children, bioethics has primarily focused on one thing: their lack of autonomy. Through theological insight into vulnerability, dependence, and agency, Jessica Bratt Carle, a pediatric chaplain and clinical ethicist, invites readers to attune and respond more fully to children in the moral landscape of healthcare"--

Book Synopsis

Children remain at the periphery when bioethics envisions autonomous adults as normative human beings. Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy explores the full humanity of children, inviting greater recognition of their place in the moral landscape of healthcare. Theological insights into vulnerability, dependence, and agency summon appreciation for the experiences of pediatric patients and reveal what it means to be human at every age. Interdisciplinary dialogue between bioethics, childhood studies, and pastoral theology is woven throughout with illustrative clinical vignettes from Bratt Carle's experience as a pediatric chaplain and clinical ethicist.

Review Quotes

"Experienced chaplain and scholar Jessica Bratt Carle takes us inside ICUs and hospital rooms for a rare look into children's lives amid illness. What she learns sparks a rich debate with the bioethical ideal of patient autonomy, revealing how this default position jeopardizes not just children whose vulnerability, dependence, and agency must be respected but all of us adults who also share these traits. A wonderful window into children's complex moral worlds and the invaluable role of theology in understanding them." --Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Vanderbilt University

"What is missing in the care of children? Jessica Bratt Carle's book puts on vivid display the full humanity of children, in all their social and spiritual complexity and moral richness. Her work is thoroughly researched, clinically informed, and carefully argued. Professional caregivers of all sorts, as well as parents, grandparents and policy advocates, will find in Carle's writing a way forward in caring better for our children. This is a book to read and savor." --Larry R. Churchill, Vanderbilt University

"This book provides a powerful and poignant corrective to the tendency of bioethics to be adult-centric, while also pushing back against secularized bioethics with inquiry that is rich with both deep experience and rigorous scholarship. Written by a clinical ethicist who also has worked for decades as a chaplain, Children, Theology, and Bioethics will move you, inspire you, and challenge you. Jessica Bratt Carle sketches out a moral vision of and for healthcare that recognizes the enduring presence of childhood in our lives, no matter our age, which provides a much-needed complexification." --Nathan Carlin, McGovern Medical School

"What's ethics to a kid? Jeccica Bratt Carle sheds light on this question in her new book, Children, Theology, and Bioethics. Bratt Carle develops a convincing argument that the use of adult ethical models in pediatric care often talk about children rather than hearing directly from children. She helps readers understand that children are far more capable of engaging ethical questions about their care than most parents and professionals believe. When we listen to their struggles and story directly, they can teach us what really matters in ethics-vulnerability, courage, and agency. All pediatric care providers will find their care to be more responsive when they apply the lessons in this important book that redefines medical ethics from a child's point of view." --Paul Thayer, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University

"Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy is an essential addition to the bioethics literature, offering profound insights for anyone working with children or adults. Through the lens of theological anthropology, Jessica Carle presents a compelling critique of bioethics' obsession with autonomy, arguing that this narrow focus has led to a diminished understanding of both children and adults who may not conform to idealized standards of independence and decision-making capacity. Carle advocates for a paradigm shift-one that acknowledges dependence and vulnerability as fundamental human experiences while also taking children's agency seriously. This book is a must-read for anyone engaged in bioethics, pastoral care, or healthcare, and pushes us to a richer understanding of what it means to respect and care for children." --Douglas S. Diekema, Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children's Hospital

"Jessica Bratt Carle's passionate reframing of the principlist approach to bioethics to reconsider the place and voices of children offers a new perspective that is crucial for both theological and philosophical ethics. By gently challenging the dominance of autonomy towards a model that centers the moral agency of children in healthcare settings, and through her deep exploring of concepts like vulnerability, dependence, and agency through a theological lens, her book has the potential to seriously enrich the practice of pediatric chaplaincy and clinical ethics in pediatric settings." --Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, Transforming Chaplaincy

"Jessica Bratt Carle has laid a foundation for seeing children's full humanity, and in seeing their humanity, to see it all those we encounter. This book is a huge step forward by thinking ethically from a theological perspective which integrates history, anthropology, childhood studies, and ethics. Moreover, she provides a pastoral theology borne of clinical experience and reflection integrated with scholarship. Broadening how vulnerability, dependence, and agency are defined, Bratt Carle broadens the conversation about children and bioethics, not only widening the circle of who thinks about these attributes but to think about them as broadly as a child's imagination can take them." --Daniel H. Grossoehme, Rebecca D. Considine Research Institute, Haslinger Family Pediatric Palliative Care Center, Akron Children's Hospital

About the Author

Jessica Bratt Carle is a Presbyterian minister, pediatric chaplain, and clinical ethicist.