The New Testament and Bioethics

Beauchamp and Childress's Principles of Biomedical Ethics is a well-accepted approach to contemporary bioethics. Those principles are based on what Beauchamp and Childress call the common morality. This book employs New Testament theological themes to enhance the meaning of those principles of bioethics. The primary New Testament text for this study is the twin commands from Jesus to love God and love one's neighbor. The three theological themes developed from this study–the image of God, the covenant, and the pursuit of healing–are deeply embedded in the New Testament and in the ministry of Jesus. Three contemporary bioethics principles are used for this dissertation, based on The Belmont Report. They are the principles of respect for persons, justice, and beneficence. In each case, the theological themes are shown to enhance the meaning of these bioethics principles. Each of the three principles, as understood through the three theological themes, is applied to a current bioethics issue to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach. The three current issues addressed are the withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment, the distribution of health care in the Untied States, and the use of palliative care.