Playing God?: Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415915228 ISBN 13: 9780415915229

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

This volume examines the concept of genetic determinism, finding it unsupportable by science yet prevalent in our culture in the form of the "gene myth". Despite DNA determinism, we as persons are still free. We are also morally responsible. That responsibility includes building a better future through genetic science, a form of human creativity expressive of the image of God imparted by the divine to the human race.

About this title

From Library Journal

Peters, the author of Sin (LJ 4/1/94) and author or editor of eight other semipopular books on science, theology, and New Age religion, was funded by the National Institutes of Health to look into ethical and theological aspects of the Human Genome Project, an attempt to map the human gene structure. Here he debunks the "myth" that our lives are controlled by genes or some combination of genetics and environment, further arguing that we need a theology of freedom. Only fanatics will find his analyses unreasonable, but readers will notice that the book depends on two kinds of sentences?scientific and theological. Scientific sentences score points when they report data verifiable by methods the scientific community approves. But what of theological sentences? Must they report the will of the scriptural God, draw on Judeo-Christian tradition (as Peters thinks), or just be reasonable? Peters adds his theological score to the scientific score, which is like adding basketball scores to baseball scores. He hints that science and theology are part of a larger game defined by Western culture, but this would introduce cultural relativism into both. Even then, would they add up? For comprehensive collections only.?Leslie Armour, Univ. of Ottawa, Canada
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

" Playing God? makes an important and thought-provoking contribution to the debate about genetics. Above all, it demonstrates that scientific facts are open to multiple theological interpretations. Creationism is only one end of the spectrum of relations between science and religion. Peters show us the opposite end, a theology that embraces gene science." -- New Scientist

"In this remarkable book, Ted Peters explores the fallacies of the 'gene myth' and presents a resounding array of arguments against this kind of all-encompassing genetic determinism.." -- From the foreword by Francis S. Collins Director, National Center for Human Genome Research

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0415915228
• ISBN 13: 9780415915229
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 218