News
“God and Human Genetic Engineering”
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer Dave Basinger’s latest book, “God and Human Genetic Engineering,” has just been released by Cambridge Press. After offering an overview of the promising and problematic scientific advances in this area, Basinger notes the key ethical issues involved, outlines the ethical/religious/scientific lines of reasoning used to support or challenge these advances, and then proposes intellectual humility as a basis for deciding these issues.
Science and Religion have often intersected on issues. However, no set of current scientific advances is more promising and problematic for religious (or non-religious) individuals than those that fall under the heading of Human Genetic Engineering, as these advances have the potential not only to cure human disease, remove undesirable human traits, and enhance desirable human traits but to pass on these modifications to future generations. This Element is an introductory overview of these advances, the ethical issues they raise, and the lines of reasoning, including religious lines of reasoning, used to support or challenge these advances.
“My goal is to suggest a way of assessing these advances that will give us, whether religious or not, a solid basis for deciding these issues for ourselves and engaging in respectful, constructive dialog with others,” said Basinger.
This book by Basinger has free access through Dec. 11 at this DOI link.