Forty years after the concept of “bioethics” was introduced, it has emerged as the moral umpire in the fields of medicine, science, and technology. The bioethics of today is a broader enterprise than the familiar realm of medical ethics. Originally conversant with Christian moral reflection, bioethics has emigrated from bedside consultations to interdisciplinary research, public policy debates, and wider cultural and social conversations that all privilege secular discourse. The Scandal of Bioethics glances backward to ask questions about the legacy of Christian thought in bioethics, while facing the future, the purpose, and the place of Christian thought in bioethics. The time has come to address the tough questions: Has ‘Christian bioethics’ made any difference? Will Christians lead with moral courage and imagination? Is there a future for right of conscience in medicine and research? This conference will also address related trends in women’s health and reproductive ethics, the growing role of empirical research, global health, and a vision of biotechnology that affirms both human dignity and human flourishing.
Plenary Speakers
Thursday, July 14
- The Legacy of Christianity to Bioethics - Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD, MACP
Friday, July 15
- Choosing the Good: Recapturing Moral Imagination and Courage in the Midst of Complexity and Challenge - Dennis Hollinger, PhD
- The Noble Pursuit of Medicine in Resource Challenged Times - David Stevens, MD, MA
Saturday, July 16
- Does Biotechnology Have a Human Face? How 21st Century Biotech Research Can Affirm Human Dignity and Contribute to Human Flourishing - Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, PhD
Colloquium: Can Bioethics Be Christian?
- After Christendom: Christian Bioethics in an Alien Culture - H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., MD, PhD
- Our Hope for the Future: The Scandal and Failure of Secular Bioethics and the Necessity for a Christian Voice - C. Christopher Hook, MD
- Bioethics as Witness - Daniel Sulmasy, MD, PhD
Parallel Papers
- Essential Boundaries: The Metaphysics Underlying the Cybrid Debate - Rachel Jonker
- Conscience Rights and Health Care in the U.S. and Canada - Moria McQueen, LLB, MDiv, PhD
- The Christian Physician: Reclaiming Holism through Conscience, Philanthropia, and Vocation - Gregory W. Rutecki, MD
- Fiction: A Tool to Catalyze a Cultural Discourse on Bioethics - Austin Boyd, MS
- Obstetrician-Gynecologists' Beliefs about When Pregnancy Begins - Ryan E. Lawrence, MDiv, MD
- The Other Half of the Debate - Calling the Churches to Confront the Experience of Persons Conceived through Reproductive Technology - Elizabeth Marquardt, MDiv, and Stephanie Blessing
Courses
- Intensive Bioethics Institute - Paige C. Cunningham, JD
- Advanced Bioethics Institute - Michael Sleasman, PhD
- Emerging Issues in Reproductive Technology and Women's Health Institute -- Donna Harrison, MD
- Pre-Med/Undergraduate Bioethics Institute - Joyce Shelton, PhD
- Undergraduate/Graduate Wrap-Around Course - Ferdinand D. Yates, Jr., MD
- Graduate Wrap-Around Course - Hans Madueme, MD, PhD Candidate and Dennis Hollinger, PhD
- Post-Conference Seminar: Engaging Bioethics in the Church - Keith Plummer, PhD
- Post-Conference Seminar: Justice and Global Medicine - C. Christopher Hook, MD and Claretta Y. Dupree, PhD
Workshops
- Clinical Ethics - Robert Orr, MD
- Science Policy - Michelle Kirtley, PhD
- End-of-Life - John Dunlop, MD and Rob Moll
- Human Nature in the Legal Balance: Fixed and Finite, or Flexible and Fashionable? - Alliance Defense Fund
- The Collision of Old World Law and Medical Ethics - National Embryo Donation Center
