Unprecedented Choices: Religious Ethics at the Frontiers of Genetic Science (Theology and the Sciences)

Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Survey on Issues of Vital Interest
Review: Chapman's work is primarily a survey of mainly religious but also secular materials that evaluate the growing number of ethical issues raised by the realities and prospects of genetic engineering. Chapman details the contributions of individual ethicists and theologians, the statements of several significant Church bodies, as well as the conclusions of specific tasks forces and working groups that include religious voices. Among the topics surveyed are questions about cloning, the patenting of life forms, and fundamental questions of human nature that are raised by the science of genetics (e.g., free will vs. genetic determinism, the question of the soul). Chapman's main concern is that the seriousness of the issues have not been matched by a depth of theological inquiry. While the book is more descriptive than evaluative, her critique of the genetic reductionism of E. O. Wilson's sociobiology is a most helpful discussion. The book is highly recommended as a general survey of many of the key issues and much of the current literature on a vital area of great ethical consequence--an area that affects all of God's creation.

Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Survey on Issues of Vital Interest
Review: Chapman's work is primarily a survey of mainly religious but also secular materials that evaluate the growing number of ethical issues raised by the realities and prospects of genetic engineering. Chapman details the contributions of individual ethicists and theologians, the statements of several significant Church bodies, as well as the conclusions of specific tasks forces and working groups that include religious voices. Among the topics surveyed are questions about cloning, the patenting of life forms, and fundamental questions of human nature that are raised by the science of genetics (e.g., free will vs. genetic determinism, the question of the soul). Chapman's main concern is that the seriousness of the issues have not been matched by a depth of theological inquiry. While the book is more descriptive than evaluative, her critique of the genetic reductionism of E. O. Wilson's sociobiology is a most helpful discussion. The book is highly recommended as a general survey of many of the key issues and much of the current literature on a vital area of great ethical consequence--an area that affects all of God's creation.