[1] Science and technology writer Sally Adee has written a book that provides a summary of the research demonstrating that electric currents run throughout bodies, even in the mind, and every living thing (the field of bioelectricity).\u00a0 This is a valuable volume for Christian ethicists and for any Christian thinker interested in what theology can learn from science.\u00a0 With the challenges of Artificial Intelligence, stem-cell research, and genetics getting most of the attention of the media, ethicists and religion scholars need to keep our eyes on bioelectricity (and perhaps the latest developments in Psychedelics) too.\u00a0 Indeed a lot of fresh insights for what to make of some of the Biblical miracles emerge from these pages detailing the latest findings of bioelectricity.<\/p>\n
[2] The book begins with Adee\u2019s thoughtful and well-explained historical account of the emergence of bioelectricity research and how trends in the guild of medical research have largely silenced in the academy and in pop culture the exciting data discerned in the field (esp. pp.366ff.).\u00a0 For our purposes, what is interesting is to learn how identifying electrical signals of cells or disrupting these signals might lead to remarkable health outcomes like: (1) Stopping cancer from metastasizing (pp.10,14,222ff.); (2) Reviving the dead (p.54); (3) Repairing paralyzed limbs (pp.138-139); and (4) Regenerating damaged body parts (esp. pp.184,206).\u00a0 This should not be too surprising since we are finding that the body naturally uses internal electricity to heal wounds and bone fractures (pp.179-180).\u00a0 It even seems possible that electricity can produce an embryo from an egg without need of the sperm, since a calcium current injected into an egg is sufficient to start the process of embryo development.\u00a0 Adee refers here to a virgin birth (p.196).<\/p>\n
[3]These remarkable outcomes resulting from bioelectric experiments are at several points most suggestive of some Biblical miracles, particularly if we understand electricity as a function of the Presence of Jesus, the Light of the World (John 9:5; 1 John 5:12), or God\u2019s Presence as Light (1 John 1:5; Genesis 1:3-5).\u00a0 In that case the intensity of the light emanating from Jesus could account for healing and resurrecting the dead.\u00a0 And of course God\u2019s Presence in the Spirit (Acts 1:3-4; Matthew 1:35) can make sense of a Virgin Birth in Mary.<\/p>\n
[4] One reason we may not be hearing much about this new science, Adee notes, has to do with the fact that it has been difficult to optimize the findings of bioelecticity since we do not yet know how the electricity heals (p.180).\u00a0 Of course it could be noted that these mysteries preserve the miraculous character of the Biblical miracles even when relating the insights of the discipline to Biblical accounts that I have above.\u00a0 This seems to be yet another reason why we should want to grapple with and publicize bioelectricity\u2019s findings in the broader society and among our Lutheran flock.<\/p>\n
[5] To her credit, Adee gives warnings about some wrong turns in bioelectricity, such as an interest in developing implants (silicon or electronic in nature) which might stimulate electrical oscillations in the brain in order to facilitate therapy (pp.266ff., 292).\u00a0 Non-invasive tools are now seen as the way to go, she notes, but critics and ethicists need to monitor these developments.\u00a0 Related to this matter, she adds, is the concern about the treatment of participants in any and all trials (whether the risks have been fully disclosed) (p.280).<\/p>\n
[6] Another issue the book raises for Lutheran ethicists, but unfortunately is not addressed directly by the author, is how these promising medical practices are going to be distributed fairly and for whom.\u00a0 However, to her credit Adee does lament the tendency of society\u2019s media and its economic dynamics to confuse medical necessities with mere enhancements, too often confusing the two so that the masses are pressured to adopt cybernetic enhancements as necessary to good health or deem them superior to what we can get naturally from our bodies (p.299).\u00a0 One wonders, she notes, if this dynamic is related to all the present craze about Artificial Intelligence (p.292).\u00a0 This set of issues is yet another pressing reason to make this book a must read, for it is a publication that can help us get on the alert for the exciting potential medical breakthroughs and treatments that the discipline of bioelectricity promises or can already deliver.<\/p>\n
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[1] Science and technology writer Sally Adee has written a book that provides a summary of the research demonstrating that electric currents run throughout bodies, even in the mind, and every living thing (the field of bioelectricity).\u00a0 This is a valuable volume for Christian ethicists and for any Christian thinker interested in what theology can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-bio-medical"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n