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Christian Bioethics Advance Access originally published online on March 23, 2009
Christian Bioethics 2009 15(1):54-73; doi:10.1093/cb/cbp004
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of The Journal of Christian Bioethics, Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following Christian Bioethics issue: European Bioethics II-Disparate Hopes and Fears [View the issue table of contents]

How Christian Norms Can Have an Impact on Bioethics in a Pluralist and Democratic Europe: A Scandinavian Perspective

António Barbosa da Silva

University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway and Ansgar Theological Seminary

Address correspondence to: António Barbosa da Silva, Ansgar Theologcal Seminary, Fredrik Fransons vei 4, 4635 Kristiansand, Norway. E-mail: dasilva{at}ansgarhs.no


  Abstract

This article assesses the similarity and difference between the Western European style of doing bioethics and the Scandinavian one. First, it reviews the introductory article by the editor, C. Delkeskamp-Hayes in the first issue of Christian Bioethics (2008), devoted to the possibility of a specifically Christian bioethics in Europe. Second, it analyses bioethics debates in Scandinavian today. In light of Delkeskamp-Hayes' article, the main similarity is that both regions are facing secularization as a threat to basic Christian values, for example, to the Christian view of the sanctity and dignity of the human life. But the Scandinavian tends to reduce Christian bioethics to Luther's concept of the worldly kingdom, supposed to foster a dialogue between Christians and non-Christians on controversial ethical issues. Despite the positive value of the dialogue, this strategy renders Christian ethics powerless. Third, from an evangelical theological standpoint, it proposes some strategies for enhancing the influence of Christian commitments on bioethical laws and policies.

Keywords: bioethics debates, Christian ethics, Luther's ethics


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