Reordering Nature: Theology, Society and the New Genetics

Description

Here, experts in the environment, theology and science argue that the challenge posed to society by biotechnology lies not only in terms of risk/benefit analysis of individual genetic technologies and interventions, but also has implications for the way we think about human identity and our relationship to the natural world. Such a profound - they would suggest religious - challenge, requires a response that is genuinely interdisciplinary in nature, a conversation that draws as much on expertise in theology and philosophy as on the natural sciences and risk assessment techniques. They argue that an adequate response must also be sociologically informed in at least two ways. First it must draw on contemporary sociological insights about contemporary cultural change, the complex role of expert knowledge in modern complex society and the specific social dynamics of contemporary technological risks. Secondly, it must endeavour to pay sensitive attention to the voice of the lay public in the current controversy over the new genetics. This book attempts to realise such an aim, as a contribution not just to academic scholarship, but also to the public debate about biotechnology and its regulation. Thus the collection includes contributions from scholars in a range of intellectual domains (indeed, many of the chapters themselves draw on more than one discipline in new and challenging ways). The book invites the reader to enter into this conversation in a creative way and come to appreciate more fully the many-sided nature of the debate.

Celia Deane-Drummond is Director of the Laudato Si' Research Institute and Senior Research Fellow in theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxfrod, UK. Robin Grove-White is Professor of Environment and Society at Lancaster University, UK. Dr Bronislaw Szerszynski is Lecturer in Environment and Culture at Lancaster University, UK.

'...gestures to the rich background of the theological scholarship about the appropriate relations between the purposes of God and the processes of nature...The merits of this book are many.' ~ Journal of American Academy of Religion * Journal of American Academy of Religion * "The authors are to be congratulated for raising a clear set of issues in a complelling and focused manner. University classes across a range of disciplines could fruitfully engage with these essays as part of their curriculum and thinking Christians everywhere will benefit from careful reading and consideration of the arguments presented here." -Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Vol. 56, No. 2, June 2004 -- Dennis W. Cheek * Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith *