Disability's Challenge to Theology: Genes, Eugenics, and the Metaphysics of Modern Medicine

by Devan Stahl

Overview

This book uses insights from disability studies to understand in a deeper way the ethical implications that genetic technologies pose for Christian thought.

Theologians have been debating genetic engineering for decades, but what has been missing from many theological debates is a deep concern for persons with genetic disabilities. In this ambitious and stimulating book, Devan Stahl argues that engagement with metaphysics and a theology of nature is crucial for Christians to evaluate both genetic science and the moral use of genetic technologies, such as human genetic engineering, gene therapy, genetic screenings, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and gene editing. Using theological notions of creation ex nihilo and natural law alongside insights from disability studies, the book seeks to recast the debate concerning genetic well-being. Following the work of Stanley Hauerwas, Stahl proposes the church as the locus for reimagining disability in a way that will significantly influence the debates concerning genetic therapies.

Stahl’s project in “genethics” proceeds with an acute awareness of her own liberal Protestant tradition’s early embrace of the eugenics movement in the name of scientific and medical advancement, and it constructively engages the Catholic tradition’s metaphysical approach to questions in bioethics to surpass limitations to Protestant thinking on natural law. Christianity has all too frequently been complicit in excluding, degrading, and marginalizing people with disabilities, but the new Christian metaphysics developed here by way of disability perspectives provides normative, theological guidance on the use of genetic technologies today. As Stahl shows in her study, only by heeding the voices of people with disabilities can Christians remain faithful to the call to find Christ in “the least of these” and from there draw close to God. This book will be of interest to scholars in Christian ethics, bioethics, moral theology, and practical theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268202965
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	08/15/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	973 KB

About the Author

Devan Stahl is an assistant professor of religion at Baylor University and editor of Imaging and Imagining Illness: Becoming Whole in a Broken Body.

Read an Excerpt

We know who we are as human persons only in light of God’s action toward humanity. In opposition to contemporary secular debates about personhood, a Christian ontology of the human person points us toward the value of life beyond its capacity or abilities. From the creation narrative, we know the lives of all human beings are gifts, which constitutes the donative nature of the human being. Through the incarnation we can recognize human nature (in all its fragility and limitation) is good, even though our sinfulness directs our wills away from God. To despise our nature would be to despise what God has given and the very nature to which God has promised ultimate communion through Christ’s redeeming action. Finally, Christian eschatology leads us toward communal care as a witness of God’s Kingdom in the here and now. Living as witnesses to the Kingdom means recognizing all human persons are worthy of dignity and kinship. As sinful human beings, we tend to pervert our kinship with others and the earth. In response, the Church must work to represent God’s Kingdom to the world by first relinquishing power and control over our fate and turn towards being with God and others as its primary task.

By welcoming and including all persons into their communities, Christian churches have the opportunity to declare something vital about the worth of human life in its material and nonmaterial aspects, as well as in its actuality and potentiality. Against those who would situate God and the “supernatural” outside of mechanical human life, Christians know they are ontologically determined by a God who took on human form in order to be with humanity in its very nature. The church must assert our genes are not the essence or defining feature of who we are, and even if genes contribute to what we are, we ought not reduce all human whatness to genetics. We are finite material beings, but we are also creatures of God, which means we are more than mere material, and our DNA is no more sacred than the whole of human life. Christian churches have an opportunity to declare humans are more than molecules, more than their particular capacities and deficiencies. Our genes are not the key to who we are: Christ is.

Within our current culture, genetic engineering presents itself as a double-edged sword, promising to relieve the suffering of many while simultaneously obstructing deeper conversations about the complexity surrounding genetic diseases and disabilities within human life. The geneticization of all physical difference may hinder our acceptance of persons with phenotypic variation. By focusing on curing abnormality, Christians often neglect the hospitable and patient care that is required of them. All too often, we deploy our techno-medico projects upon the bodies of those we assume suffer as a result of our cultural configurations and assumptions about personhood. If we allow ourselves to be carried away with the achievements of genetic testing and medicine, our good intentions may become weapons against persons with genetic variation (or their parents) when they consider options within health care institutions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Science, Religion, and the Ideal Eugenic Man

2. Theological Influences on the Scientific Revolution

3. The Metaphysics and Theology of Genetic Medicine

4. Natural Theology and Genetic Ontology

5. Disability and Personhood

6. The Limits of Natural Law in Christian Genetics

7. Practical, Embodied Wisdom

8. Disability Inclusion and Virtue within the Church

Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on a rich tapestry of Catholic and Protestant sources, Devan Stahl demonstrates the need for metaphysics if Christian bioethics is to successfully confront the eugenic temptations of genetic technologies.” —Paul Scherz, co-editor of The Evening of Life

"In this beautifully deep work, Devan Stahl highlights the wisdom of disabled people, too often left out of theological considerations around the utilization of medical advancements. Disability's Challenge to Theology is a bedrock book for bioethics and disability theology and sets the table for us to have conversations in nuanced, faithful ways that will bear fruit." —Bethany McKinney Fox, author of Disability and the Way of Jesus

“Stahl argues that churches must include the voices of disabled individuals in Christian ethical discernment. This important, theologically rich book will be of interest to scholars of theological bioethics, especially those working in the Protestant tradition. Interested lay readers, too, may find the text helpful.” —Choice

“Given the relative dearth of books in theological bioethics, Disability's Challenge to Theology: Genes, Eugenics, and the Metaphysics of Modern Medicine is a welcome contribution to the field. In addition to being of interest to Christian ethicists, Stahl's book will be of interest to those considering the implications of the capability approach for bioethics and disability studies.” —Hastings Center Report

"Devan Stahl’s Disability’s Challenge to Theology is a step toward reconciliation for some of the sins of the modern church, offering itself as a starting point for developing processes for faithful decision-making and guidance in relation to genetic testing and therapies." —Journal of Disability and Religion

"In Disability’s Challenge to Theology, Devan Stahl offers an insightful and multilayered critique of liberal Christian embrace of eugenics movements....Her work is particularly valuable for the spotlight it shines on the theological and social conflation between sin, suffering, and disability." —Political Theology

"While Stahl draws from and speaks to Christian ethicists and theologians, non-Christian and even non-religious thinkers will benefit from reading her book." —Reading Religion

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