Beschreibung
A Liberal Catholic Bioethics opens a new dialogue between Christian
reasoning and belief and secular positions in bioethics. The well
documented book covers in detail internal and external debates and
positions of Roman Catholic theology and hierarchy: issues of
contraception and abortion, palliative care and euthanasia, caring
humanely for the demented, the use and abuse of modern technology in
medicine. The doctrine of Papal infalliability is identified as a main
reason in hindering and suppressing a dialogue within the church, with the
faithful and with other religious and humanist positions. Were the Borgia
Popes infalliable, was Pope Urban infalliabe when he condemned Gallileo,
the author asks. He thus carries the debate far beyond specific bioethics
issues towards a more humane medicine and culture.
James F. Drane is Russell B. Roth Professor of Clinical Bioethics at
Edinboro University, PA in the United States and has worked extensively
with Pan American Health Organization and other institutions in
introducing bioethics and clinical ethics in the Americas. Drane, a former
Roman Catholic priest and one of the early and most respected authorities
in bioethics, is not a Martin Luther; he remains a faithful. A
postscriptum, “The Story of one liberal Catholic bioethcist”, gives an
account of his intellectual and spiritual biography.
