The Church and the Biomedical Revolution

A Lecture Series
Sponsored by The Center for Catholic Studies
and Beyond Career to Calling, a Lilly Grant program

"But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?" Job 28:12

Job’s question is pertinent in every generation, though perhaps no more so than today, as the current biomedical revolution—already global in scale—continues to push back what were once considered the limits of both our knowledge of and control over the fundamental processes of human life. Though far from defeated, the ancient enemies of disease, disability, and premature death increasingly give way to innovative and powerful therapeutic interventions. At the same time, these vastly augmented powers over human life raise troubling questions whose answers are anything but clear. What limits are there, if any, to our technological abilities to reshape human nature, for example, through genetic manipulation? In a world of scarce resources, how should the risks and benefits of biomedical research be allocated? How, in our often divided and morally fragmented world, is it possible to articulate a vision of human flourishing sufficiently rich and compelling to guide these biomedical innovations? Where, indeed, shall wisdom be found?

The premise of this lecture series is that traditional Christianity, as practiced primarily in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but including all churches committed to what has been called the "Great Tradition," has been and remains an invaluable repository of such wisdom. Accordingly, the overarching aim of the series is to engage the question of the nature and shape of the Church’s contribution to the public/global debate occasioned by the biomedical revolution, which comprise questions of law, policy, and morality, as well philosophy, and, ultimately, theology.

Second in the Series

Summer Seminar for Faculty and Staff
July 14 - 18,  2008
9am - Noon

This event is by invitation only.

PAST EVENTS:

First in the Series

Dr. Engelhardt holds degrees both in philosophy and medicine and is a well-known and influential voice in the field of bioethics. In addition to his faculty positions at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Engelhardt has lectured at universities across the world, authored over two hundred and fifty articles and chapters of books, and has written two seminal books on the topic,
The Foundations of Bioethics and The Foundations of Christian Bioethics.

Dr. Engelhardt’s lecture is the first of a three-year long series of lectures and faculty summer seminars on the theme "The Church and the Biomedical Revolution" being sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies (Beyond Career to Calling), The Murphy Institute for Law & Public Policy, the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, and the McLaurin Institute at the University of Minnesota.