Catholic Bioethics for a New Millennium

Great read, gotta get it

A must read for all who wish to know what is going on in the medical and scientific fields of past and present as well as implications for the future

Gave the arguments from reason clearly

Thank you for processing my request and forwarding the item I chose I am pleased with the product and found your service Very Satisfactory.

A fantastic resource and well researched. I would suggest ignoring the reviewer Greg's little rant about 'right-wing' and 'traditional.' The brief but accurate insight into our culture is absolutely necessary. It is not pretty to hear, but that is simply because of how far our culture has decayed in the realm of sexual morality. Genuine cultural critique might be difficult for Greg to swallow because he submits to the idea which has been prevalent over the last 50 years: that modern culture is infallible and it is the church which should change to suit it. In the meantime, the majority of Catholics have completely given into the secularising and modernising of everything, then people like Greg (who I would be willing to bet my hat is about 60y/o) still have the hide to blame the small remnant of orthodox Catholics for the reason their own parishes are empty, when it actually fact it is because they put all of Gregs ideas into practice.

In this book, Australian Catholic Bishop Anthony Fisher looks at bioethics and bioethical questions from a Roman Catholic perspective. The book is basically sound in terms of its ability to put the issues in context and in its use of proper rigor in arguing the issues. What is very disappointing though is often Fisher falls back on the tired old 'culture war' rhetoric of the Catholic right to support his arguments. This starts from the very first chapter where Fisher quotes a 19th century source lamenting the disintegration of 'traditional' values (surprise surprise in the area of sex of course) which he the extends to the rest of the culture. Fisher unfortunately ignores the reasons why people have turned their backs on religion and religious morality in such large numbers in the first place, such as the disgraceful and scandalous conduct of people professing religious beliefs, from the child abuse sex scandals in the church itself to militant Muslims today who glorify suicide bombings, beheadings and kidnapping as acts of virtue. Frankly given Fisher's degree of experience and learning (he is a Dominican after all) I expected a much higher quality of reasoning and argument as well as pastoral sensitivity in this work. Instead he falls into the trap of 'traditionalist' Catholicism and the useless rhetoric of the far-right which does little to promote the church's ministry of reaching our and protecting the marginalised in the community. It makes no sense to make a huge hue and cry over abortion, euthanasia and access to birth control while being relatively silent about things like corporate greed, marginalisation of the poor, and destruction of the environment. Until the church is seen not as a moral policeman determined to make people 'behave' below the belt but instead as a life-giving institution with something useful to offer to people of good-will besides jingoistic 'I'm better than you, so sit down and listen' fundamentalist slogans in narrow areas of morality, I don't see how Catholic bioethics (especially as presented in culture war form by Fisher) can be appealing to the reasonable person.

A very academic book. Takes a while to get through but its all there and well worth the effort. Explanations helpful and aids the reader in understanding the key issues and being able to contribute to disucssions having assimilated the arguments.

A must read for all who wish to know what is going on in the medical and scientific fields of past and present as well as implications for the future

Gave the arguments from reason clearly

Thank you for processing my request and forwarding the item I chose I am pleased with the product and found your service Very Satisfactory.

A fantastic resource and well researched. I would suggest ignoring the reviewer Greg's little rant about 'right-wing' and 'traditional.'The brief but accurate insight into our culture is absolutely necessary. It is not pretty to hear, but that is simply because of how far our culture has decayed in the realm of sexual morality. Genuine cultural critique might be difficult for Greg to swallow because he submits to the idea which has been prevalent over the last 50 years: that modern culture is infallible and it is the church which should change to suit it. In the meantime, the majority of Catholics have completely given into the secularising and modernising of everything, then people like Greg (who I would be willing to bet my hat is about 60y/o) still have the hide to blame the small remnant of orthodox Catholics for the reason their own parishes are empty, when it actually fact it is because they put all of Gregs ideas into practice.

In this book, Australian Catholic Bishop Anthony Fisher looks at bioethics and bioethical questions from a Roman Catholic perspective.The book is basically sound in terms of its ability to put the issues in context and in its use of proper rigor in arguing the issues. What is very disappointing though is often Fisher falls back on the tired old 'culture war' rhetoric of the Catholic right to support his arguments. This starts from the very first chapter where Fisher quotes a 19th century source lamenting the disintegration of 'traditional' values (surprise surprise in the area of sex of course) which he the extends to the rest of the culture. Fisher unfortunately ignores the reasons why people have turned their backs on religion and religious morality in such large numbers in the first place, such as the disgraceful and scandalous conduct of people professing religious beliefs, from the child abuse sex scandals in the church itself to militant Muslims today who glorify suicide bombings, beheadings and kidnapping as acts of virtue.Frankly given Fisher's degree of experience and learning (he is a Dominican after all) I expected a much higher quality of reasoning and argument as well as pastoral sensitivity in this work. Instead he falls into the trap of 'traditionalist' Catholicism and the useless rhetoric of the far-right which does little to promote the church's ministry of reaching our and protecting the marginalised in the community. It makes no sense to make a huge hue and cry over abortion, euthanasia and access to birth control while being relatively silent about things like corporate greed, marginalisation of the poor, and destruction of the environment. Until the church is seen not as a moral policeman determined to make people 'behave' below the belt but instead as a life-giving institution with something useful to offer to people of good-will besides jingoistic 'I'm better than you, so sit down and listen' fundamentalist slogans in narrow areas of morality, I don't see how Catholic bioethics (especially as presented in culture war form by Fisher) can be appealing to the reasonable person.

A very academic book. Takes a while to get through but its all there and well worth the effort. Explanations helpful and aids the reader in understanding the key issues and being able to contribute to disucssions having assimilated the arguments.