Modifying Our Genes: Theology, Science and “Playing God”

If our bodies could do more things, would our lives be better? Genome editing is a rapidly developing technology that can modify human genes. It can cure heritable diseases, but we could even make certain genetic “improvements” to healthy people. Should we change human embryos genetically to achieve such goals? Bringing together a leading molecular biologist and a Christian ethicist this book responds to the need for solid information and helpful orientation for a pressing moral issue. They explain relevant technical issues without the jargon, clarify the most important philosophical and religious arguments and bring empirical insights to the question of what helps us lead meaningful lives.

Alexander Massmann is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He received his Ph.D. for a study on 20th century theology and ethics. Having published in the subject area of this book proposal, he works in theological ethics, science and theology, and Christian doctrine. Apart from recent articles in biomedical ethics and the science and theology dialogue, he is also the author of Citizenship in Heaven and on Earth: Karl Barth's Ethics (Fortress, 2015) and editor of Deathless Hopes: Reinventions of Afterlife and Eschatological Beliefs (LIT, 2018, together with C. Hays)

Keith R. Fox is Professor of biochemistry, editor of Nucleic Acids Research and has published over 200 peer-reviewed science research papers. He is also the Associate Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge (UK), which is well-known for a strong public outreach programme. A former chairman of Christians in Science, Fox regularly addresses lay audiences on science and faith.