The Sanctity of Human Life

The Sanctity of Human Life PDF Author: David Novak
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014664
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Heated debates are not unusual when confronting tough medical issues where it seems that moral and religious perspectives often erupt in conflict with philosophical or political positions. In The Sanctity of Human Life, Jewish theologian David Novak acknowledges that it is impossible not to take into account the theological view of human life, but the challenge is how to present the religious perspective to nonreligious people. In doing so, he shows that the two positions—the theological and the philosophical—aren't as far apart as they may seem. Novak digs deep into Jewish scripture and tradition to find guidance for assessing three contemporary controversies in medicine and public policy: the use of embryos to derive stem cells for research, socialized medicine, and physician-assisted suicide. Beginning with thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietsche, and drawing on great Jewish figures in history—Maimonides, Rashi, and various commentators on the Torah (written law) and the Mishnah (oral law)—Novak speaks brilliantly to these modern moral dilemmas. The Sanctity of Human Life weaves a rich and sophisticated tapestry of evidence to conclude that the Jewish understanding of the human being as sacred, as the image of God, is in fact compatible with philosophical claims about the rights of the human person—especially the right to life—and can be made intelligible to secular culture. Thus, according to Novak, the use of stem cells from embryos is morally unacceptable; the sanctity of the human person, and not capitalist or socialist approaches, should drive our understanding of national health care; and physician-assisted suicide violates humankind's fundamental responsibility for caring for one another. Novak's erudite argument and rigorous scholarship will appeal to all scholars and students engaged in the work of theology and bioethics.

The Sanctity of Human Life

The Sanctity of Human Life PDF Author: David Novak
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014664
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Get Book Here

Book Description
Heated debates are not unusual when confronting tough medical issues where it seems that moral and religious perspectives often erupt in conflict with philosophical or political positions. In The Sanctity of Human Life, Jewish theologian David Novak acknowledges that it is impossible not to take into account the theological view of human life, but the challenge is how to present the religious perspective to nonreligious people. In doing so, he shows that the two positions—the theological and the philosophical—aren't as far apart as they may seem. Novak digs deep into Jewish scripture and tradition to find guidance for assessing three contemporary controversies in medicine and public policy: the use of embryos to derive stem cells for research, socialized medicine, and physician-assisted suicide. Beginning with thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietsche, and drawing on great Jewish figures in history—Maimonides, Rashi, and various commentators on the Torah (written law) and the Mishnah (oral law)—Novak speaks brilliantly to these modern moral dilemmas. The Sanctity of Human Life weaves a rich and sophisticated tapestry of evidence to conclude that the Jewish understanding of the human being as sacred, as the image of God, is in fact compatible with philosophical claims about the rights of the human person—especially the right to life—and can be made intelligible to secular culture. Thus, according to Novak, the use of stem cells from embryos is morally unacceptable; the sanctity of the human person, and not capitalist or socialist approaches, should drive our understanding of national health care; and physician-assisted suicide violates humankind's fundamental responsibility for caring for one another. Novak's erudite argument and rigorous scholarship will appeal to all scholars and students engaged in the work of theology and bioethics.

Sanity and Sanctity

Sanity and Sanctity PDF Author: David Greenberg
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300131992
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Ultra-orthodox Jews in Jerusalem are isolated from the secular community that surrounds them not only physically but by their dress, behaviors, and beliefs. Their relationship with secular society is characterized by social, religious, and political tensions. The differences between the ultra-orthodox and secular often pose special difficulties for psychiatrists who attempt to deal with their needs. In this book, two Western-trained psychiatrists discuss their mental health work with this community over the past two decades. With humor and affection they elaborate on some of the factors that make it difficult to treat or even to diagnose the ultra-orthodox, present fascinating case studies, and relate their observations of this religious community to the management of mental health services for other fundamentalist, anti-secular groups.

Courting Sanctity

Courting Sanctity PDF Author: Sean L. Field
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501736213
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
The rise of the Capetian dynasty across the long thirteenth century, which rested in part on the family's perceived sanctity, is a story most often told through the actions of male figures, from Louis IX's metamorphosis into "Saint Louis" to Philip IV's attacks on Pope Boniface VIII. In Courting Sanctity, Sean L. Field argues that, in fact, holy women were central to the Capetian's self-presentation as being uniquely favored by God. Tracing the shifting relationship between holy women and the French royal court, he shows that the roles and influence of these women were questioned and reshaped under Philip III and increasingly assumed to pose physical, spiritual, and political threats by the time of Philip IV's death. Field's narrative highlights six holy women. The saintly reputations of Isabelle of France and Douceline of Digne helped to crystalize the Capetians' claims of divine favor by 1260. In the 1270s, the French court faced a crisis that centered on the testimony of Elizabeth of Spalbeek, a visionary holy woman from the Low Countries. After 1300, the arrests and interrogations of Paupertas of Metz, Margueronne of Bellevillette, and Marguerite Porete served to bolster Philip IV's crusades against the dangers supposedly threatening the kingdom of France. Courting Sanctity thus reassesses key turning points in the ascent of the "most Christian" Capetian court through examinations of the lives and images of the holy women that the court sanctified or defamed.

Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium

Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium PDF Author: Youval Rotman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674057619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Prologue. Insanity and religion -- Part I. Sanctified insanity: between history and psychology -- The paradox that inhabits ambiguity -- Meanings of insanity -- Part II. Abnormality and social change: early Christianity vs. rabbinic Judaism -- Abnormality and social change -- Socializing nature: the ascetic totem -- Epilogue. Psychology, religion, and social change

Sanctity in the North

Sanctity in the North PDF Author: Thomas Andrew DuBois
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 080209130X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Sanctity in the North features English translations of texts from Latin or vernacular Nordic languages, in many cases for the first time. The accompanying essays complement the translations and reflect the contributors' own disciplinary groundings in folklore, philology, medieval, and religious studies.

Marriage

Marriage PDF Author: Javier Abad
Publisher: Scepter Publishers
ISBN: 9789715541534
Category : Families
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description


Sanctity of Life and Human Dignity

Sanctity of Life and Human Dignity PDF Author: K. Bayertz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940091590X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
`Sanctity of life' and `human dignity' are two bioethical concepts that play an important role in bioethical discussions. Despite their separate history and content, they have similar functions in these discussions. In many cases they are used to bring a difficult or controversial debate to an end. They serve as unquestionable cornerstones of morality, as rocks able to weather the storms of moral pluralism. This book provides the reader with analyses of these two concepts from different philosophical, professional and cultural points of view. Sanctity of Life and Human Dignity presents a comparative analysis of both concepts.

Forgetful of Their Sex

Forgetful of Their Sex PDF Author: Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226740544
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Invaluable for what they tell us about early medieval society and the Church, the Lives of these early saints also afford rare insight into the private world of medieval men and women, the special bonds of family and friendship, and the collective mentalities of the period. This book constitutes a major contribution to the study of medieval history, gender, and religion.

The Sanctity of Dissent

The Sanctity of Dissent PDF Author: Paul Toscano
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781560850496
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
In ten eloquent speeches, Paul James Toscano traces the odyssey of his life from conversion to the LDS church in 1963 to excommunication for heresy in 1993. Included are the addresses that resulted in church action against him.Authority is adored as the dominant divine characteristic of Mormonism, Toscano alleges; patriology blows unimpeded through the church like a cold wind, chilling compassion, hope, and faith. He worries that unless there is a spiritual revival of mythic dimensions, Mormonism is doomed to resolve itself into yet another sect full of ethical pretension and xenophobic aspiration.Considering himself a Latter-day Saint in exile, Toscano remains confident that Christian love may yet overflow the banks of righteousness, sweep away respectability, turn dignity into mud, lay waste the levees of our vaunted invulnerability, and contaminate us with holiness. The church will yet become an open, compassionate, and forgiving community, according to Toscano's wish -- one dedicated to the spiritual empowerment of each individual, the celebration of diversity, and the sanctity of dissent.

Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place

Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place PDF Author: Phyllis Granoff
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 9780774810395
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This book brings together essays by anthropologists, scholars of religion, and art historians on the subject of sacred place and sacred biography in Asia. The chapters span a broad geographical area that includes India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and China, and explore issues from the classical and medieval periods to the present. They show how sacred places have a plurality of meanings and how in their construction, secular politics, private religious experience, and sectarian rivalry intersect. Contributors explore the fundamental challenges that religious groups face as they expand from their homeland or confront the demands of modernity. While some chapters deal with well-known religious movements and sites, others discuss little-known groups and help to enrich our understanding of the diversity of religious belief in Asia. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of Asian religion and hagiography, but also to others who seek to understand the ways in which religious groups accommodate the challenges of new environments and new times.