[1] Last summer my home church was shaken out of its life-as-normal routine when one of its church council members was arrested for sexually abusing both his daughter and his niece. The following weeks were particularly fraught for the pastor, as he tried to minister to both the abuser and the victims. His difficulties were […]
[1] Several years ago-1999, to be exact-Hollywood came out with a movie called The General’s Daughter. Starring John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe, and set on a major military base in Georgia, it told of an investigation into the suspicious death of a woman officer at the base, who also happens to be the daughter of […]
[1] It began with a phone call. It was Karen, a friend whom I’d known since my childhood.[1] Although we didn’t see or talk to one another as much now as when we were kids, we were still close. But, on the phone this day she sounded different: she was tentative, unsure of herself, fumbling […]
With this April issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics, we bring the third installment in our series of notes on books addressing genetic engineering. For interested readers, the previous two columns appeared in the September and December, 2003 issues. Works reviewed in this month’s column: Gordon Graham, Genes Editors of Scientific American, Understanding Nanotechnology […]
We all learned, that terrible morning, that we could die while reaching for a piece of toast at breakfast. Pete Hamill God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:27 [1] We are still searching for a language to interpret the complexity of reactions and challenges following […]
[1] The latest film by Australian film-maker and actor Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ, has kept people busy both at the box office and at the computer. Biblical scholars scramble to assess the scriptural authenticity of the dialogue. Theologians of all stripes sift scenes for implicit theories of atonement. Jewish leaders register appropriate […]
[1] 1. Biotechnology develops in cultural contexts, and not in isolation in the laboratory. At first glance, the driving forces behind biotechnology are the hard sciences: biological and medical research, new technologies and the interest in making a profit in an expanding sector of the economy: health care. But these developments have consequences that go […]
[1] The 2004 Gathering of Lutheran Ethicists on January 7-8 in Chicago focused on the topic “Lutheran Contributions to Bioethics.” Discussion papers from that gathering are posted elsewhere in this issue of JLE. This report aims to pull together threads from the conversation at the gathering around this topic so that not only the papers […]
[1] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s social statement on economic life, “Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All,” cites Martin Luther’s assertion that Christians violate God’s commandment, “you shall not kill,” when people lack the ability to meet their basic needs of life.[1] Since nearly one-sixth of the world’s population lacks access to the food necessary […]
[1] John W. De Gruchy’s book Reconciliation: Restoring Justice is an appealing exploration of the process of truth and reconciliation in South Africa. In the history of truth commissions throughout the world, South Africa was the first to combine notions of truth and reconciliation. This combination, I believe, was due to the commission’s Chairman, the […]
