Overview

We are delighted to announce that this book has been short listed for the prestigious Michael Ramsey prize for the best in theological writing. For more information please visit: www.michaelramseyprize.org.uk   A radical examination of the Christian tradition relating to the human embryo and how this relates to the debate today.In recent years, the moral status of the human embryo has come to the fore as a vital issue for a range of contemporary ethical debates: concerning the over-production, freezing and discarding of embryos in IVF; concerning the use of 'spare' embryos for scientific experimentation; and finally, concerning the prospect of producing clone embryos. These debates have involved not only general philosophical arguments, but also specifically religious arguments. Many participants have attempted to find precedent from the Christian tradition for the positions they wish to defend.It is therefore extraordinary that until The Soul of the Embryo there has been no significant work on the history of Christian reflection on the human embryo. Here, David Albert Jones seeks to tell the story of this unfolding tradition - a story that encompasses many different medical, moral, philosophical and theological themes. He starts by examining the understanding of the embryo in the Hebrew Scritpures, then moves through early Christianity and the Middle Ages to the Reformation and beyond. Finally, Albert Jones considers the application of this developed tradition to contemporary situation and questions which contemporary Christian view or views are best regarded as authentic developments of the tradition and which should be regarded as alien to the tradition.

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9780826462961

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Reviews

'A scholarly contribution to the history, background and detail of the human embryo in medical, theological and moral terms. It deserves to be studied both in itself and in the important reminder of our essential human being, where we come from, what we are and what significance we have and share in this world and in eternity'--E David Cook Theology

'In providing a systematic historical account of Christian and other approaches to the embryo, David Jones offers some fascinating material for reflection.' '...this book provides valuable material for a principled rather than merely pragmatic reflection on our attitude to this most vulnerable phase of life.'--,

Author Information

David Albert Jones is Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford, and Visiting Professor of Bioethics at St Mary's University College, London, UK.

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