Issue: January 2008

Volume 8 Number 1

How should we know? Constructing an Epistemology for an Age of Biological Intervention

[1] The title of this fourth plenary session is quite a mouthful.[1] [2] It often happens that after many days and hours of hard work on a project, I realize I am just beginning to figure out what I need to figure out. The puzzle pieces that I place on the table in what follows […]

Dr. Caryn Riswold

Imago Dei and Coram Mundo: Theological Anthropology for Human Life Today or, The World is The Woman

[1] My systematic theologian’s mind has serious limitations when it comes to talking about genetics, medical science, and the age of biological intervention. One thing I can say with a great deal of confidence is that science clearly shows us that human beings are complicated: in every way and at every level, physical and biological, […]

Sufficient, Sustainable Lifespan for All: Responsible Biotechnology and ELCA Social Thought

Life-Extension: Past, Present, and Future [1] At the beginning of the 20th century, the average life expectancy in the United States was 48 years. One hundred years later, it is 78. This change came from public health gains: sanitation, diet, immunization, antibiotics. Americans did not decide in 1900 to pursue 30 more years on Earth. […]