ELCA NEWS SERVICE
January 22, 2004
Lutheran Ethicists Discuss Contributions to Bioethics Debate
04-007-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Several Lutherans are involved in ethical
debates surrounding biological sciences and biotechnology,
expressing a wide range of views. The Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) gathered 50 Lutheran ethicists and other
interested participants here from North America and Europe Jan. 7-
9, prior to the annual meeting of the Society of Christian
Ethics, to discuss those views and to explore what they have in
common that make them "Lutheran."
"We come together every year to talk together as Lutherans
about what we think are cutting edge problems or questions for
our discipline or for the church or for society," said Dr. Per
Anderson, associate professor of religion and chair of the
religion department, Concordia College, an ELCA college in
Moorhead, Minn. Anderson was a member of the planning committee
for the Lutheran ethicists' gathering.
Last year the ELCA adopted a social statement on health and
health care, and the planning team considered reflecting on
related ethical issues, Anderson said. "We thought maybe this is
an appropriate time to talk about the biological revolution and
the whole array of issues around health care." Lutheran churches
around the world continue to be committed to health care, so
"Lutheran contributions to bioethics" seemed like a logical
topic, he said.
Anderson said the conversation began with transplant
technology in the 1960s and questions about the morally
appropriate time to remove an organ from one body and implant it
in another. After decades of medical advances, that conversation
has developed into "a sub-specialty of moral philosophy," he
said.
The gathering's discussion was organized around "whether or
not we can identify as Lutherans certain characteristic or
distinctive contributions that we might have to make to intra-
Christian debates about bioethical or health care or what kind of
a stance we would take toward society," Anderson said.
"Our group really does function to support and encourage
thinking about ethics as Lutherans in an obviously ecumenical
context, but we are trying to understand what it means to be a
Lutheran ethicist in our time," he said.
Dr. Paul T. Nelson, professor and chair, Department of
Religion, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, presented
some of the diverse positions Lutheran authors have taken in
debates on bioethical issues. Though they may arrive at
different conclusions, each argument has aspects that are
distinctly Lutheran, he said.
Dr. Mark J. Hanson, research associate, Practical Ethics
Center, University of Montana, Missoula, was a primary author of
the ELCA social statement, "Caring for Health: Our Shared
Endeavor," which the Churchwide Assembly adopted in August 2003.
He took the group through the development of the statement and
fielded questions about specific phrases in the document.
Many people would say health care is provided by a fractured
system in the United States, Hanson said. The statement presents
health care as more than just a service to be delivered but as a
"shared endeavor" of governments, providers, individuals and
others, he said. Equity in access to health care is "rooted in
love and justice."
Dr. Leland Glenna, assistant research sociologist,
University of California at Davis, led a discussion of how
genetically modified organisms have improved the world's ability
to feed itself and yet 800 million people are hungry. The
ability of fewer people to produce more food has driven many
people from the world's rural areas and left them to live in
poverty, he said. Although food is available, those who can't
afford to buy it remain hungry.
Dr. Klaus Tanner, professor of systematic theology and
social ethics, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg,
Germany, presented some of the current discussion among Lutheran
ethicists in Germany surrounding stem-cell research. While
research is strictly regulated by the government, he saw the role
of the church to be one of posing the related ethical questions
and of building consensus.
Dr. Svend Andersen, professor of systematic theology and
director of the Centre for Bioethics, University of Aarhus,
Denmark, challenged the idea that there is a clearly distinct set
of "Lutheran" bioethical principles. From his Danish context, he
explored Lutheran ethics and how it confronts bioethical
questions in personal decisions and in policy decisions.
Studies staff of the ELCA Division for Church in Society
updated the group on its current work, including the book "Church
and State: Lutheran Perspectives," the online "Journal of
Lutheran Ethics," and preparations for a proposed message on
terrorism and a proposed social statement on education.
The Rev. James M. Childs Jr., ELCA director for studies on
sexuality, gave a progress report on the church's work to develop
recommendations for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2005
that will deal with blessing same-gender relationships and
recognizing the ministries of people in such relationships. The
ELCA Studies on Sexuality Task Force will continue to develop a
proposed social statement on human sexuality by 2007.
The Rev. Karen L. Bloomquist, an ELCA pastor, told the group
about her work as director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for Theology and Studies, based in Geneva,
Switzerland. The ELCA is one of 136 member churches of the LWF
in 76 countries, representing more than 61.7 million of the
world's 65.4 million Lutherans.
The LWF department is producing an occasional pamphlet
series of theological reflections on timely challenges facing
churches of the Lutheran communion called "Thinking it over..."
Bloomquist authored the first issue, "Power Politics in Light of
the Human Condition."
-- -- --
The Journal of Lutheran Ethics is at
http://www.elca.org/jle/ on the ELCA Web site.
The Lutheran World Federation has its home page at
http://www.lutheranworld.org/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
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