Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics (Catholic Moral Thought) - Softcover

Austriaco, Nicanor Pier Giorgio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813218829 ISBN 13: 9780813218823

Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011

Synopsis

*Engages contemporary moral questions raised by biology and medicine from a sound Catholic perspective*

How are the patient, the physician, the nurse, and the scientist called to grow in holiness in their particular vocations? This introductory text, written from within the Catholic moral tradition, narrates a bioethics that emphasizes the pursuit of beatitude in the lives of those who are confronted by moral questions raised by biomedicine and the other life sciences.

The Catholic moral vision that informs this volume is rooted in the moral life described by the Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount. As Pope John Paul II taught in his moral encyclical, Veritatis splendor, we imitate Christ by seeking, with God's grace, to perfect ourselves through our actions and the virtues they engender. In this way, Catholic bioethics differs from other contemporary approaches to bioethics that focus on either the outcomes of human acts or the procedures that protect the autonomy of the human agent.

Besides ethical questions raised at the beginning and the end of life, Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., discusses the ethics of the clinical encounter, human procreation, organ donation and transplantation, and biomedical research. Finally, the text discusses the realities faced by citizens of faith living in a free and democratic society that is at the same time postmodern, secular, and liberal.

About this title

About the Author:

Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., is assistant professor of biology and instructor of theology at Providence College. In biology, he and his students are investigating the genetic regulation of programmed cell death in several model unicellular eukaryotes. In theology, he has published essays on bioethics and on the interaction between science and religion.

Review:

"Some of us know that we can expect that someone who is a Thomist, a priest with extensive pastoral experience (including hospital work), a trained scientist, and a teacher of undergraduates, graduate students, and parishoners would write a terrific book on bioethics. Our expectations are amply satisfied in Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco's Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics. Austriaco uses his multiple talents, impressive education, and diversified experience to wonderful effect as he presents a thoroughly up-to-date treatment of bioethics... In my view, Biomedicine and Beatitude is now the finest general book on Catholic bioethics available.... Austriaco has performed a great service for those of us who teach bioethics and those who want a clear but sophisticated overview of Catholic bioethics."―Janet Smith, The Thomist

About this edition

• Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0813218829
• ISBN 13: 9780813218823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336