CHRISTIAN ETHICS, BIOETHICS, AND THE PROBLEMS OF DESCRIPTION

Abstract

This paper examines the ethical challenges posed by two developments in
biotechnology, as well as the role that Christian Ethics can play in enabling the
church and society to respond wisely to these developments. The first ethical
problem is the separation of four aspects of motherhood that can arise from the
donation of DNA, the donation of mitochondria, surrogacy, and adoption. The
second ethical problem arises from the advances in genetic engineering, which allow
the production of human proteins in sheep’s milk (which is useful in treating certain
diseases). This paper argues that both these problems turn out to be problems of
description. Drawing on the contributions of Oliver O’Donovan, Miroslav Volf, and
Michael Polanyi, the paper advances an analogy from the study of fractals to help
explain how descriptions can be true even before they are exact, and how
descriptions can become progressively more exact without having to renounce their
earlier iterations. These more exact descriptions form a prerequisite for an informed
response to the ethical challenges of biotechnology.