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168 pages

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Amid current arguments related to human life and dignity, Christians must be clear about how their faith speaks to such concerns and what other outlooks have to say. This book brings together noted ethicists--Russell DiSilvestro, David P. Gushee, Amy Laura Hall, John F. Kilner, Gilbert C. Meilaender, Scott B. Rae, and Patrick T. Smith--to make a Christian case for human dignity. It offers a robust critique of five influential alternative positions, including the emerging outlook of transhumanism, showing how a Christian view supports the crucial idea that people matter in a way other views cannot.

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Philosophie et théologie

Christian theology

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	03 janvier 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493406623
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0778€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2017 by Russell DiSilvestro, John F. Kilner, David P. Gushee, Amy Laura Hall, Gilbert C. Meilaender, Scott B. Rae, and Patrick T. Smith
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0662-3
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Contents
Cover i
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Contributors vii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Why This Book Matters 3
The Need for Common Ground in Debates Today
J OHN F. K ILNER
Part 1: Grounding Significance in Humanity 15
2. Persons Are Not Interchangeable 17
Utilitarianism and Human Significance
G ILBERT C. M EILAENDER
3. His Eye Is on the Sparrow 39
Collectivism and Human Significance
A MY L AURA H ALL
4. My Life Is Not My Own 65
Individualism and Human Significance
R USSELL D I S ILVESTRO
Part 2: Grounding Significance in Science 87
5. More Than Meets the Eye 89
Naturalism and Human Significance
S COTT B. R AE
6. The Privilege of Being Human 109
Transhumanism and Human Significance
P ATRICK T. S MITH
Part 3: Grounding Significance in God 133
7. Special Connection and Intended Reflection 135
Creation in God’s Image and Human Significance
J OHN F. K ILNER
8. Nothing Human Is Merely Human 161
Various Biblical Bases for Human Significance
D AVID P. G USHEE
Conclusion 187
9. Why a Christian Outlook Matters 189
Comparing Grounds for Human Significance
J OHN F. K ILNER
Subject Index 215
Scripture Index 221
Back Cover 224
Contributors
Russell DiSilvestro, PhD, is associate professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Practical and Professional Ethics at California State University, Sacramento. His latest book is Human Capacities and Moral Status .
David P. Gushee, PhD, is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. He is the author or editor of twenty books, including The Sacredness of Human Life .
Amy Laura Hall, PhD, is associate professor of Christian ethics at Duke University, with research funded by the Lilly and Pew Foundations among others. Her latest book is Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction .
John F. Kilner, PhD, is Forman Chair of Ethics and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and director of bioethics degree programs at Trinity International University. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God .
Gilbert C. Meilaender, PhD, is senior research professor at Valparaiso University, a Ramsey Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, and a member of the US President’s Council on Bioethics. He has authored over ten books, including Neither Beast nor God: The Dignity of the Human Person .
Scott B. Rae, PhD, is professor of Christian ethics and dean of faculty at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He has authored over ten books in ethics, including Body and Soul: Human Nature and the Crisis in Ethics .
Patrick T. Smith, PhD, is associate professor of philosophical theology and ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and lecturer in bioethics at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. He is active in global education, especially in Africa and the West Indies.
Preface
The need for a book such as this is substantial. Books long available on such topics as “worldview” compare biblical-Christian outlooks with other outlooks on a wide range of topics. However, such projects have not included sufficiently in-depth treatment of the widely and deeply held conviction that “people matter.” As noted in the introduction, how people view and handle many of the most important contemporary issues flows directly from this conviction and from the outlook that shapes the way that people build upon it.
Over time conversations among various contributors to this present volume fostered an unshakable sense that this book needed to be written, and the authors signed on one by one. Work on this book began in earnest when this outstanding team of authors gathered for a weekend at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. Each participant had been invited to make a presentation on one particular way of looking at the world, based on their respective expertise. After each presentation the team engaged in an energetic discussion of what needed to be included in a chapter addressing that way of thinking.
Armed with many insights, each author then began developing the first draft of their chapter. Next, all such drafts received at least two detailed critiques from fellow authors and the following exceptional critiquers who joined the project specifically to help make the book the best it could be:
Charles C. Camosy (Fordham University)
J. Kameron Carter (Duke University)
Millard J. Erickson (retired, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Fabrice Jotterand (Regis University and University of Basel)
C. Ben Mitchell (Union University)
J. P. Moreland (Biola University)
Authors were now in a position to produce revised versions, which I as the book editor and Bob Hosack and David Cramer, editors at Baker Academic, refined and edited in dialogue with the authors.
Trinity International University, an anonymous foundation, my colleague John Dunlop, and my family provided the time and means necessary for me to do the research, writing, and editing of this book. Special thanks go to Trinity president David Dockery; deans Tite Tienou, Graham Cole, Tom Cornman, and Don Hedges; and my departmental colleagues for their support and encouragement. At various stages along the way, several graduate students—Rebecca Blevins, Austin Freeman, Madison Pierce, and Janie Valentine—provided invaluable assistance. For the numerous people above who contributed to this project in so many ways—as well as the anonymous foundation that contributed the necessary funding—I am profoundly grateful.
You have the result of this collaborative undertaking before you now. It draws on decades of study that the authors have invested in the particular ways of looking at the world that they discuss here. And it benefits from the range of perspectives represented by the contributors, who are younger and older, female and male, black and white.
People matter. So much hinges on recognizing and living this conviction. But for such recognition and action to take place and to be sustainable, such a conviction must be supported rather than undermined by people’s ways of thinking and looking at the world. The present work commends a vitally needed way to shore up this conviction—a credible and consistent way to explain why people matter.
John F. Kilner
Deerfield, Illinois
Introduction
1 Why This Book Matters
The Need for Common Ground in Debates Today
John F. Kilner
Do people matter? Most people think so. But why do they matter? And why does it matter why they matter? In other words, why does this book matter?
The reason this book matters has to do with the huge importance of many ethical debates today, together with the seeming impossibility of resolving those disputes. People on opposing sides of the issues often seem to be living in different worlds, concerned about very different things. However, a closer look at their arguments reveals that there is substantial common ground after all. Opposing “sides” in so many disagreements argue that people matter—that how people are viewed and treated is crucially important. Sometimes the appeal is to human dignity; sometimes to human autonomy; sometimes to the importance of respect for dignity, autonomy, or some other human attribute. But the common theme is that people matter and ought to be treated accordingly.
If there is a common conviction generally at work on all sides of various debates, then there is hope for finding a way forward—a way of resolving disputes. It is worth taking time here in the introduction to provide some illustrations of debates in which both sides make their argument on the basis of human significance—on the basis that people matter. After that we can consider other evidence that human significance is central to the big issues of the day. We will then be in a position to ask: Since so many people appeal to the conviction that people matter, why is there so much disagreement over contemporary ethical issues? As we will see, the problem is not the conviction that people matter; rather it is the reason why people matter. But first we need to demonstrate the widespread support for the idea that people do in fact matter.
Opponents Agree That People Matter
Consider the following debates in which opposing sides argue their position on the basis that people matter. Examples abou