Lutheran Ethicists Discuss Contributions to Bioethics Debate

Chicago (ELCA)-FI — Several Lutherans are involved in ethical debates surrounding biological sciences and biotechnology, expressing a wide range of views. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered 50 Lutheran ethicists and other interested participants here from North America and Europe Jan. 7- 9, prior to the annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, to discuss those views and to explore what they have in common that make them "Lutheran."

"We come together every year to talk together as Lutherans about what we think are cutting edge problems or questions for our discipline or for the church or for society," said Dr. Per Anderson, associate professor of religion and chair of the religion department, Concordia College, an ELCA college in Moorhead, Minn. Anderson was a member of the planning committee for the Lutheran ethicists' gathering.

Last year the ELCA adopted a social statement on health and health care, and the planning team considered reflecting on related ethical issues, Anderson said. "We thought maybe this is an appropriate time to talk about the biological revolution and the whole array of issues around health care." Lutheran churches around the world continue to be committed to health care, so "Lutheran contributions to bioethics" seemed like a logical topic, he said.

Anderson said the conversation began with transplant technology in the 1960s and questions about the morally appropriate time to remove an organ from one body and implant it in another. After decades of medical advances, that conversation has developed into "a sub-specialty of moral philosophy," he said.

The gathering's discussion was organized around "whether or not we can identify as Lutherans certain characteristic or distinctive contributions that we might have to make to intra- Christian debates about bioethical or health care or what kind of a stance we would take toward society," Anderson said.

"Our group really does function to support and encourage thinking about ethics as Lutherans in an obviously ecumenical context, but we are trying to understand what it means to be a Lutheran ethicist in our time," he said.

Dr. Paul T. Nelson, professor and chair, Department of Religion, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, presented some of the diverse positions Lutheran authors have taken in debates on bioethical issues. Though they may arrive at different conclusions, each argument has aspects that are distinctly Lutheran, he said.

Dr. Mark J. Hanson, research associate, Practical Ethics Center, University of Montana, Missoula, was a primary author of the ELCA social statement, "Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor," which the Churchwide Assembly adopted in August 2003. He took the group through the development of the statement and fielded questions about specific phrases in the document.

Many people would say health care is provided by a fractured system in the United States, Hanson said. The statement presents health care as more than just a service to be delivered but as a "shared endeavor" of governments, providers, individuals and others, he said. Equity in access to health care is "rooted in love and justice."

Dr. Leland Glenna, assistant research sociologist, University of California at Davis, led a discussion of how genetically modified organisms have improved the world's ability to feed itself and yet 800 million people are hungry. The ability of fewer people to produce more food has driven many people from the world's rural areas and left them to live in poverty, he said. Although food is available, those who can't afford to buy it remain hungry.

Dr. Klaus Tanner, professor of systematic theology and social ethics, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, presented some of the current discussion among Lutheran ethicists in Germany surrounding stem-cell research. While research is strictly regulated by the government, he saw the role of the church to be one of posing the related ethical questions and of building consensus.

Dr. Svend Andersen, professor of systematic theology and director of the Centre for Bioethics, University of Aarhus, Denmark, challenged the idea that there is a clearly distinct set of "Lutheran" bioethical principles. From his Danish context, he explored Lutheran ethics and how it confronts bioethical questions in personal decisions and in policy decisions.

Studies staff of the ELCA Division for Church in Society updated the group on its current work, including the book "Church and State: Lutheran Perspectives," the online "Journal of Lutheran Ethics," and preparations for a proposed message on terrorism and a proposed social statement on education.

The Rev. James M. Childs Jr., ELCA director for studies on sexuality, gave a progress report on the church's work to develop recommendations for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2005 that will deal with blessing same-gender relationships and recognizing the ministries of people in such relationships. The ELCA Studies on Sexuality Task Force will continue to develop a proposed social statement on human sexuality by 2007.

The Rev. Karen L. Bloomquist, an ELCA pastor, told the group about her work as director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for Theology and Studies, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The ELCA is one of 136 member churches of the LWF in 76 countries, representing more than 61.7 million of the world's 65.4 million Lutherans.

The LWF department is producing an occasional pamphlet series of theological reflections on timely challenges facing churches of the Lutheran communion called "Thinking it over..." Bloomquist authored the first issue, "Power Politics in Light of the Human Condition."