The project to map the human genetic codes has been widely hailed as a monumental achievement with vast medical promise. Yet the project is also fraught with ambiguities and, Susan Thistlethwaite claims, great potential dangers to society. This important book combines a basic primer on genetic research with ethical reflection by an interdisciplinary team on key questions and a deeper look, in light of such research, at what it means to be human. Part 1 of the book places genetic research in historical perspective, including the historical prickliness between science and religion. It shows how we have gotten from Gregor Mendel's experiments with peas to today's Human Genome Project. Part 2 explores ethical issues posed by genetic testing, screening, and counseling; gene therapy; stem-cell research; dangers of misuse through genetic identification; and engineering of particular populations (violent people, ethnic groups, gays and lesbians). Part 3 explores the possibilities of reconstruing human identity for the coming "biological age." Contributors include Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Laurel Schneider, Lainie Ross, Theodore W. Jennings Jr., Ken Stone, and Lee Butler.
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, President of Chicago Theological Seminary, is a theologian and social ethicist whose many influential books include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the U.S. (with Rita Nakashima Brock; Fortress Press, 1996), Lift Every Voice: Constructing Christian Theologies from the Underside (with Mary Potter Engel, 1998), and Sex, Race, and God: Christian Feminism in Black and White (1989).
About the Contributors Preface Introduction: Liberation Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite A Beginning Point Different Questions, New Insights PART ONE: THE SCIENCE OF GENETICS Setting the Context: A Brief History of Science by a Sympathetic Theologian Laurel C. Schneider Aristotle and Plato Islamic Science Medieval Science in the West The Reformation and the Renaissance Descartes Newton Darwin Freud An Introduction to Mendelian Genetics Lainie Friedman Ross Gregor Mendel and Peas DNA Autosomal Recessive Conditions Autosomal Dominant Conditions X-Linked Conditions From Peapods to the Human Genome Project: Post-Mendelian Genetics Lainie Friedman Ross Chromosomal Variations Clinical Genetics Ethical and Policy Issues PART TWO: BEING HUMAN Theological Anthropology and the Human Genome Project Theodore W. Jennings Jr. Theology and Science Bringing Theology to the Human Genome Project Redemption and Resurrection Imago Dei Reflections on Romans Adam, Eve, and the Genome Ken Stone The Genome as "Text" The Quest for a "Gay Gene" as "Etiological Text" The Story of Adam and Eve as "Etiological Text" Who Asks Etiological Questions? PART THREE: CRITICAL ISSUES Dreaming the Soul: African American Skepticism Encounters the Human Genome Project Lee H. Butler Jr. Racism in American History as a Feature of the American Dream A Way out of the Nightmare: A Different Dream of Being Human Dreaming of Freedom The New Dream On Being Human A Gene for Violence? Genetic Determinism and Sin Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite A Short History of the Doctrine of Sin Genetic Determinism Flies Who Rape? Flawed Science Human Freedom and Genetics Human Dignity/In the Image of God Social Sin and Human Violence To Sin Rationally The Chemistry of Community Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite The "Case" of Hypertension in African Americans The "Case" of Breast Cancer Grace Soul/Body Dualism The Grace of Community Notes Glossary Index
