Contemporary Issues in Bioethics: A Catholic Perspective - Softcover

James J. Walter is the Austin & Ann O'Malley Professor of Bioethics and Chair of The Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University. He is co-author (with Thomas Shannon) of The New Genetic Medicine: Theological and Ethical Reflections. Thomas A. Shannon is Professor of Religion and Social Ethics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA. He is the editor of Rowman & Littlefield's Readings in Bioethics series.

Walter and Shannon have the long experience, sure judgment, ample wisdom and deft style to carry off this creative revitalization of the Catholic bioethical heritage. They will both enlighten scholars and educate newcomers to important debates about new technologies and the state of health care today. The authors make it clear how rich are the resources Catholicism brings to urgent dilemmas in medicine and policy that should be of concern to everyone. (Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College)

Two giants in contemporary bioethics provide a lucid and breathtaking analysis of how the Catholic moral tradition can shape and inform the most neuralgic issues in health care. This work offers a very practical and user-friendly study for students and scholars in the academy, for clinicians and other professionals in health care, as well as for patients and families struggling with Catholic teaching about controversies in bioethics. The authors display a profound respect for the Catholic moral tradition to enhance its influence in the high-tech culture of health care today. (Gerard Magill, Executive Director & Department Chair, Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University)

Thorough, nuanced and challenging, this new work by Walter and Shannon is a welcome addition to the resources for the teaching and practice of Catholic bioethics. Nicely balanced between theoretical and “practical” considerations, Contemporary Issues in Bioethics captures the diversity of Catholic perspectives on life and death issues while showing us exactly what is lost when religious voices are missing or distorted in our public debates. (Maura A. Ryan, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, University of Notre Dame)