Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine: Empowering Discernment / Edition 1

by Patricia Elyse Terrell

Overview

Examine the impact and importance reproduction and genetics have on religious values

Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine: Empowering Discernment explains the mystery of the God-human relationship so ministers, priests, and pastors can follow the ethics and mechanics of counseling human reproductive health and be informed on issues of religion, medical experimentation, and politics. The unique book is a teaching text and a desktop reference for clergypersons and pastoral care ministers, providing them with information on the sensitive and intimate topic of reproductive health from a Christian worldview so they can advise and empower congregation members to make thoughtful decisions about health care.

Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine examines four disciplines through a Christian point of view: 1) religion based on humanity created in the image of God; 2) different varieties of ethics; 3) systems of law and politics; and 4) philosophies on experimental medicines. Each topic is grounded with its religious background, providing a practical, easy-to-follow path for Christian thinkers. The book also addresses the concerns a religious person might have about health and ministry, what genetic therapy can accomplish, the alternatives to genetic therapy, and how theology, ethics, law, and medicine apply to the issues expectant mothers face.

Counseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine examines:

• the major points in recognized ethical theories
• how Christian principles became part of secular law over time
• the legal dilemmas involved in protecting the health of pregnant women
• how and why palliative care is a viable alternative to modern therapies
• the politics and morality of terminating a pregnancy
• how to protect women from becoming research "instruments"
• the moral status of the embryo
• and much moreCounseling Pregnancy, Politics, and Biomedicine explains God’s desire for good health by identifying ways in which Jesus is the example of what it means for every person to be "created in the image of God." The book is a vital resource for clergypersons and pastoral care ministers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789030450
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/16/2007
Series:	Haworth Series in Chaplaincy Series
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. Introduction: The Goals of the Book. Part I: Information to Equip Decisions. Humankind Created in the Image of God, Imago Dei: The Passion and Politics of Human Biology. Ethics: Has Morality Become a Maze or a Prism? What Politics? Which Legal System? Medical Experimentation and Reproduction. Part II: Applying the Information to Issues in Reproduction. Issues Faced by the Expectant Mother. The Moral Status of the Embryo Appendix. Legal Documents and Cases. Notes. Sources Consulted. Index.

What People are Saying About This

Derek H. Davis

AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION to a field that is moving ahead more rapidly than anyone can keep pace with. The decisions now being made will affect generations to come. Well informed outlooks like this one that examine historically and philosophically our lives as human beings and give a place at the decision-making table to all institutions that care most about human life and its future are much needed today but almost nonexistent. . . . An important work that we desperately need at this critical moment in history and which DESERVES A WIDE AUDIENCE. (Derek H. Davis, JD, PhD; Dean, College of Humanities; Interim Dean, Graduate Programs and Research; University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; Belton, Texas )

Frederick Borsch

A BOLD AND INFORMATIVE STUDY. . . .Both ambitious and compassionate in its effort to bring together insights from theology and biology to inform those who wish to think hard and holistically about decisions that affect the well being of individuals as well as our common life. . . . Not afraid to enter into the thicket where scientific fact, medical technology, various legal codes and interpretations, values, conscience and politics tangle around some of the most difficult issues of our time. . . . Emerges with her conviction that valuing every human life as born in the image of God will be the best guide. . . . Will be helpful to all who want better to understand this perspective, not least those engaged in pastoral ministry and care and who seek to be informed guides to others on these often life and death matters. (The Rt. Rev. Frederick Borsch, PhD, Professor of New Testament, Chair of Anglican Studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary At Philadelphia)