Contents
Preface -- p.9
1. How Brave a New World? God, Technology, and Medicine -- p.15
2. A Theological Reflection on Reproductive Medicine -- p.49
3. Are Our Genes Our Fate? Genomics and Christian Theology -- p.61
4. Persons, Neighbors, and Embryos: Some Ethical Reflections on Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research -- p.77
5. Extending Human Life: To What End? -- p.91
6. What Is Christian about Christian Bioethics? -- p.115
7. Revitalizing Medicine: Empowering Natality vs. Fearing Mortality -- p.131
8. The Future of the Human Species -- p.149
9. Creation, Creatures, and Creativity: The Word and the Fina Word -- p.167
Notes -- p.185
Bibliography -- p.197
Index -- p.203

We may be entering a golden age in healthcare thanks to dramatic improvements being made in diagnostic procedures and therapies. Many individuals will soon live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. But do these advances also bring the risk of losing one’s humanity? Could this progress require the transformation of humans into a new and different species?
In many respects, medicine serves as a surrogate religion in today’s societies. Although a proper concern for health is compatible with Christian faith, recent and anticipated advances in extending human longevity arc often based on philosophical presuppositions and religious values that are adverse to core Christian beliefs and convictions. In This Mortal Flesh, theologian and ethicist Brent Waters examines the Christian moral life in light of critical bioethical issues, such as biotechnology and physical/cognitive enhancement, reproductive technology, human genetics, embryonic stem cell research, and regenerative medicine. He also examines the “post-human project,” exploring what it means to be human in light of the denial of mortality. Grounding his theological reflections in the doctrine of the incarnation, Wafers argues that it is good to be embodied, finite, and mortal.