Religious Methods and Resources in Bioethics

What does religion or the religious traditions have to contribute to the discussion and resolution of contemporary bioethical issues? Each of the fifteen essays written for this volume addresses this question by treating a limited area within the volume's title area, Religious Methods and Resources in Bioethics. The essays keep in touch with the very concrete and specific nature of bioethics by illustrating their points with selected bioethical problems or cases. Some discuss the basic resources, methods and/or presuppositions which characterize the approach to bioethical issues of an entire tradition or a significant element thereof. Traditions represented include Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Judaism. Other authors, while working primarily within their own traditions - most frequently in this section in Christian thought and practice - address methodological issues which arise in a number of traditions. Such matters include casuistry, feminism, principalism and its rivals, virtue ethics, and the issue of ethics' impartial rationality. A final group addresses methodological questions within a given tradition.These include the use of scripture, and of non-canonical authoritative documents, and the role of religious practices in Christian bioethical thinking, and the use of responsa in the Jewish tradition. This volume will be of interest to any persons, beyond beginning undergraduate levels, concerned about religious contributions to bioethical issues.