Adam, Eve, and the Genome: The Human Genome Project and Theology - Softcover

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0800636147 ISBN 13: 9780800636142

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2003

Synopsis

The project to map the human genetic codes has been widely hailed as a monumental achievement with vast medical promise. Yet the project is also fraught with ambiguities and, Susan Thistlethwaite claims, great potential dangers to society. This important book combines a basic primer on genetic research with ethical reflection by an interdisciplinary team on key questions and a deeper look, in light of such research, at what it means to be human.Part 1 of the book places genetic research in historical perspective, including the historical prickliness between science and religion. It shows how we have gotten from Gregor Mendel's experiments with peas to today's Human Genome Project. Part 2 explores ethical issues posed by genetic testing, screening, and counseling; gene therapy; stem-cell research; dangers of misuse through genetic identification; and engineering of particular populations (violent people, ethnic groups, gays and lesbians). Part 3 explores the possibilities of reconstruing human identity for the coming "biological age." Contributors include Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Laurel Schneider, Lainie Ross, Theodore W. Jennings Jr., Ken Stone, and Lee Butler.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, President of Chicago Theological Seminary, is a theologian and social ethicist whose many influential books include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the U.S. (with Rita Nakashima Brock; Fortress Press, 1996), Lift Every Voice: Constructing Christian Theologies from the Underside (with Mary Potter Engel, 1998), and Sex, Race, and God: Christian Feminism in Black and White (1989).

Edition details

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0800636147
• ISBN 13: 9780800636142
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216