Denise Rector

[1] The coming decade looks to be a time of testing for the United Nations and for the U.S. relationship to it. In the current political debate period discussion about this occurs only in coded, veiled, and vague speech revolving around unilateralism and multilateralism or global leadership and “no ‘global test’ under my watch,” and […]

[1] My observations of this political season leave me in despair. My thesis here is drawn from my observations-truth is not any longer either the goal or expectation in American politics. What I am pointing to here is a general public perception that we are unable to expect public discourse and public leaders to be […]

[1]If property is a relation among persons with respect to things, as Morris Cohen says,[1] possession in the human realm is a relation among persons and things commonly called having. The distinction is as important as their connections. Both notions and their relations are explored in this welcome collection of essays coming out of a […]

[1] In the July 2004 issue of the Lutheran, John Hoffmeyer, a theologian at the Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia, comments on the Abu Ghraib scandal by posing a quandary of the sort that ethicists used to love: what if by torturing one person you might extract information that would prevent a major terrorist attack? Hoffmeyer […]

The following article was given as a graduation address to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. [1] In Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a vain Emperor has a reputation for only caring about dressing in elegant clothes. Knowing of the emperor’s vanity, two scoundrels come to the Emperor claiming to be good tailors, having […]

[1] In an event little-noted outside the swimming world, the U.S. women’s 4X200 freestyle relay broke the oldest world record on the books in the Athens Olympics. The 17-year-old mark was set by the team from the German Democratic Republic and was widely viewed as tainted by the East German team’s steroid use. East German […]

Works reviewed in this month’s column: President’s Council on Bioethics, Beyond Therapy Brent Waters and Ronald Cole-Turner, eds., God and the Embryo Matt Ridley, Genome BEYOND THERAPY: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness A Report by the President’s Council on Bioethics (New York: HarperCollins Publishers [ReganBooks], 2003), 328pp. [1] The President’s Council on Bioethics was […]

[1] When asked to write an article that compared and contrasted ethics regarding the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars, I thought about the overused notion that those who fail to learn about history repeat it, or other such common sayings. While I often agree with the general notion, the historian in me bristles–nothing ever recreates the […]

[1] I wonder if church can be “church” if you are not face to face with other people gathered to be together as a believing community. I wonder if being together, physically together is mandatory for “church”? If your first reaction is to say being physically present is mandatory, then www.shipoffools.com is not church. [2] […]

[1] It has been said that “May you live in interesting times” was an ancient Chinese curse. Surely ours qualify as “interesting times.” Difficulties surround us on international, national, regional, local, familial, and personal levels. The issues-the “war on terror,” the conflict in Iraq, the ongoing devastation of world and local hunger, the economic disparities […]