Irish Reader in Moral Theology III: volume 3 Medical and Bio-ethics : The Legacy of the Last Fifty Years

This is the third volume of the series An Irish Reader in Moral Theology: the Legacy of the Last Fifty Years. The first volume dealt with foundation issues in morality, the second with sex, marriage and the family. The editors have now brought together what they consider to be the most significant articles from journals and books by Irish theologians in the area of medical and bio-ethics. Nobody needs to be told about the ferment in this area of morality today. The book deals with age-old issues of the beginning and end of life, with the new problems that have arisen in relation to them, with the dramatic developments in stem-cell research, with the debate about the status of the embryo, with genetic enhancement, with dementia and dignity, with the need for inter-disciplinary cooperation between medics and theologians, with the use of medical resources. It recognises that we need a global bioethics and addresses some of the problems that arise there. Most of these issues are now part of public debate. Many people find themselves bewildered at the speed of developments and at the related ethical issues. Here is a rich source for those who seek to bring themselves up to date on what is happening. It will, like the earlier volumes, be greatly welcomed also by students and teachers as a valuable and accessible reference-book.