Abortion and the Christian Tradition

Abortion and the Christian Tradition PDF Author: Margaret D. Kamitsuka
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611649730
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Abortion remains the most contested political issue in American life. Poll results have remained surprisingly constant over the years, with roughly equal numbers supporting and opposing it. A common perception is that abortion is contrary to Christian teaching and values. While some have challenged that perception, few have attempted a comprehensive critique and constructive counterargument on Christian ethical and theological grounds.Margaret Kamitsuka begins with a careful examination of the churchs biblical and historical record, refuting the assumption that Christianity has always condemned abortion or that it considered personhood as beginning at the moment of conception. She then offers carefully crafted ethical arguments about the pregnant womans authority to make reproductive decisions and builds a theological rationale for seeing abortion as something other than a sin.

Abortion and the Christian Tradition

Abortion and the Christian Tradition PDF Author: Margaret D. Kamitsuka
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611649730
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description
Abortion remains the most contested political issue in American life. Poll results have remained surprisingly constant over the years, with roughly equal numbers supporting and opposing it. A common perception is that abortion is contrary to Christian teaching and values. While some have challenged that perception, few have attempted a comprehensive critique and constructive counterargument on Christian ethical and theological grounds.Margaret Kamitsuka begins with a careful examination of the churchs biblical and historical record, refuting the assumption that Christianity has always condemned abortion or that it considered personhood as beginning at the moment of conception. She then offers carefully crafted ethical arguments about the pregnant womans authority to make reproductive decisions and builds a theological rationale for seeing abortion as something other than a sin.

A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion

A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion PDF Author: Daniel A. Dombrowski
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252025501
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
The Catholic church has always opposed abortion, but -- contrary to popular belief -- not always for the same reasons. This tightly argued, historically grounded study sets out to demonstrate that a "pro-choice" stance, now held by a significant minority of Catholics, is as fully justified by Catholic thought as an anti-abortion view, and may even be more compatible with Catholic tradition than the current opposition to abortion espoused by many Catholics and most Catholic leaders. A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion argues that the current Catholic anti-abortion stance is justified neither by modern embryology nor by ancient church teachings. Combining up-to-date information on fetal development with a thorough grasp of the works of the church's early thinkers, Daniel A. Dombrowski and Robert Deltete expose crucial contradictions between the early and the modern church's views of abortion. Returning to the writings of two pillars of early Christian thought, Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the authors show that abortion was originally condemned by the church on the grounds of perversity, since it nullified the only permissible reason for sexual relations: procreation. Only in more recent times has the view arisen of abortion as indefensible on the ontological grounds that human personhood begins at the moment of conception. The authors demonstrate that the early church's view of fetal development -- delayed hominization, in which the fetus is endowed with a human soul only when it achieves a physical human body -- is diametrically opposed to the current anti-abortion stance. In fact, the authors show, the insistence on immediate hominization that provides thefoundation for the current "pro-life" view stems from two seventeenth-century scientific misconceptions -- preformationism and the homunculus -- that have since been thoroughly discredited. By considering the history of Catholic thought in its relation to the history of science, Dombrowski and Deltete bring a new level of detail and focus to the abortion debate. Their thoughtful, measured argument provides a fresh perspective that will benefit participants on all sides of the controversy.

Abortion and the Early Church

Abortion and the Early Church PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1579101828
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 119

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Book Description
What is abortion? A convenience to society? A legal offense? Murder? The twentieth century is not the first to face these questions. Abortion was a common practice two thousand years ago. The young Christian church, growing up in influential centers of Greco-Roman culture, could not ignore the practice. How would church leaders define abortion? Gorman examines Christian documents in their Greco-Roman context, concluding that Christians held a consistent position throughout the church's first four hundred years.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church PDF Author: U.S. Catholic Church
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 030795370X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 849

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Book Description
Over 3 million copies sold! Essential reading for Catholics of all walks of life. Here it is - the first new Catechism of the Catholic Church in more than 400 years, a complete summary of what Catholics around the world commonly believe. The Catechism draws on the Bible, the Mass, the Sacraments, Church tradition and teaching, and the lives of saints. It comes with a complete index, footnotes and cross-references for a fuller understanding of every subject. The word catechism means "instruction" - this book will serve as the standard for all future catechisms. Using the tradition of explaining what the Church believes (the Creed), what she celebrates (the Sacraments), what she lives (the Commandments), and what she prays (the Lord's Prayer), the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers challenges for believers and answers for all those interested in learning about the mystery of the Catholic faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a positive, coherent and contemporary map for our spiritual journey toward transformation.

Ethics beyond Rules

Ethics beyond Rules PDF Author: Keith D Stanglin
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310120918
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
An introduction to ethics that will help Christians rediscover a moral reasoning rooted in Scripture and navigate the ethical crises of our time. How should Christians live? How should we interact with one another? Why do we think the way we do about right and wrong? How should we approach today's complex moral questions? Keith Stanglin realigns our ethical thinking around the central question: What does real love require? applying it to our ethical reasoning on many of the social issues present in today's culture: abortion sexual ethics consumerism technology race and politics Moral evaluation must be based on more than our subjective feelings or the received wisdom or majority opinion of our community. But thinking objectively and reasonably about our ethical commitments is a process that's rarely taught in contemporary education or even in churches. Ethics Beyond Rules is a clear and accessible introduction for thoughtful Christians who want to lead moral lives—who want to define their moral code by firm biblical standards while acknowledging the complex nature of the issues at hand. Stanglin's love-based framework for moral decision-making engages Scripture and the historic Christian faith, giving Christians the tools to clear-mindedly consider the ethical problems of today and the foundation to confront new issues in the years to come.

A History of Pregnancy in Christianity

A History of Pregnancy in Christianity PDF Author: Anne Stensvold
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135106479
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This book examines changing views of procreation and fetal development throughout the history of the Christian tradition. This is the first comprehensive study of cultural perceptions of pregnancy, an area of scholarship that been understudied in the past. Pregnancy holds a central place in Christian ritual, iconography, and theology, including the dogma of the incarnation and the cult of Virgin Mary. This book provides a broad introduction to the attitudes and ideas within Western Christian communities by focusing on four periods of transition: Antiquity, the Enlightenment, modernity, and the present day. It lays the groundwork for further study of the interactions between biological models, cultural preconceptions, and religious beliefs.

Trust Women

Trust Women PDF Author: Rebecca Todd Peters
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 080706999X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In an age in which women’s reproductive rights are increasingly under attack, a minister and ethicist offers a stirring argument that abortion can be a moral good Here’s a fact that we often ignore: unplanned pregnancy and abortion are a normal part of women’s reproductive lives. Roughly one-third of US women will have an abortion by age forty-five, and fifty to sixty percent of the women who have abortions were using birth control during the month they got pregnant. Yet women who have abortions are routinely shamed and judged, and safe and affordable access to abortion is under relentless assault, with the most devastating impact on poor women and women of color. Rebecca Todd Peters, a Presbyterian minister and social ethicist, argues that this shaming and judging reflects deep, often unspoken patriarchal and racist assumptions about women and women’s sexual activity. These assumptions are at the heart of what she calls the justification framework, which governs our public debate about abortion, and disrupts our ability to have authentic public discussions about the health and well-being of women and their families. Abortion, then, isn’t the social problem we should be focusing on. The problem is our inability to trust women to act as rational, capable, responsible moral agents who must weigh the concrete moral question of what to do when they are pregnant or when there are problems during a pregnancy. Ambitious in method and scope, Trust Women skillfully interweaves political analysis, sociology, ancient and modern philosophy, Christian tradition, and medical history, and grounds its analysis in the material reality of women’s lives and their decisions about sexuality, abortion, and child-bearing. It ends with a powerful re-imagining of the moral contours of pre-natal life and suggests we recognize pregnancy as a time when a woman must assent, again and again, to an ethical relationship with the prenate.

Peter Singer and Christian Ethics

Peter Singer and Christian Ethics PDF Author: Charles C. Camosy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521199158
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
This book explores a number of important issues to illuminate the common ground between Peter Singer and Christian ethics.

Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States

Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States PDF Author: Mako A. Nagasawa
Publisher: Wipf and Stock
ISBN: 9781725271906
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Today's Christian pro-life movement has misplaced its priorities. The issue of abortion is more complex than the movement often appreciates. For a start, Scripture is less clear about the moral weight of the fetus than we often think. In fact, early Christians took different positions on abortion because they also relied on different scientific sources about the unborn. Furthermore, Christian conservatives today do not acknowledge that in American history, as today, Christian stances on abortion were motivated by other political fears: White Protestant Americans developed different state laws on abortion to accomplish anti-immigrant goals in the North, but anti-black racism in the South. That messiness impacts U.S. constitutional law, including Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, Scripture commissions God's people to confront socio-economic factors that push abortion rates higher: male privilege and the disempowerment of women; the high cost of child raising; the causes of birth defects; the desire to care narrowly for just ""my children""; mistaken views about contraception and ""the culture wars""; and most of all, poverty. This book incorporates biblical studies, church history, science, social science, history, and public policy to argue that we must not approach abortion policy primarily from a criminal justice standpoint, as modern conservatives do, but from a broad social and economic standpoint meant to benefit and bless all children.

Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems

Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems PDF Author: Michael C. Banner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521625548
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
This book addresses such key ethical issues as euthanasia, the environment, biotechnology, abortion, the family, sexual ethics, and the distribution of health care resources. Michael Banner argues that the task of Christian ethics is to understand the world and humankind in the light of the credal affirmations of the Christian faith, and to explicate this understanding in its significance for human action through a critical engagement with the concerns, claims and problems of other ethics. He illustrates both the distinctiveness of Christian convictions in relation to the above issues and also the critical dialogue with practices based on other convictions which this sense of distinctiveness motivates but does not prevent. The book's importance lies in its attempt to show the crucial difference which Christian belief makes to an understanding of these issues, whilst at the same time demonstrating some of the weaknesses and confusions of certain popular approaches to them.