When medicine meets morality, who decides what’s right?
For many people, that question is answered in hospitals, laboratories, courtrooms, or academic conferences. But for Christians like me, the question opens a deeper inquiry: What does God require of us when life, death, and everything in between are on the line?
Christian bioethics is an attempt to answer that question. It’s not a rigid system, but a way of seeing the world—a framework that asks us to consider human dignity, divine design, and the moral responsibilities we bear toward each other, especially the most vulnerable. It’s also a controversial project. Some say Christian bioethics is necessary. Others claim it’s impossible. Let’s walk through both sides.
What Is Christian Bioethics?
At its core, Christian bioethics is the theological and moral reflection on life, health, suffering, reproduction, and death through the lens of the Christian tradition. That means taking seriously Scripture, historical theology, moral reasoning, and pastoral concern.
But don’t let the word “Christian” fool you. There isn’t just one version. Catholic bioethics, with its strong grounding in natural law, differs from Evangelical or Reformed approaches that emphasize sola Scriptura or covenantal obligations. Eastern Orthodoxy brings yet another layer, with its emphasis on healing and sacramentality. What unites these streams isn’t uniformity but a common starting point: that human life is not our own to manipulate as we please.
Christian bioethics resists reducing ethics to utility, preference, or even consensus. It insists that our moral decisions must reflect the truth that every person bears the image of God.
The Critics: Is Christian Bioethics Even Possible?
Let’s be honest: not everyone thinks Christian bioethics deserves a seat at the table.
Critics like H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr. argue that in a post-Christian, pluralistic society, moral authority is fragmented. There is no common moral language. To bring explicitly Christian commitments into public ethics, they say, is to speak a language others can’t understand—or worse, to impose private beliefs on public policy.
Others claim that Christian ethics, rooted in revelation, can’t compete with secular frameworks built on reason, science, and autonomy. If bioethics is to be public, it must be religiously neutral, they say. Anything else is bias.
And yet, is neutrality truly neutral? Or is it just another worldview in disguise?
A Christian Response: Bioethics Is Never Neutral
Here’s what many of us in the Christian tradition believe: no ethical system is value-free. Secular bioethics isn’t the absence of worldview—it’s just a different one.
Every system makes assumptions: about what counts as a person, who deserves protection, what suffering means, and when life loses its value. Christian bioethics names those assumptions and submits them to scrutiny under the light of Scripture, tradition, and theological wisdom.
We do not pretend that our perspective is universal. We simply argue it’s coherent, ancient, and morally serious. And it has something vital to contribute to the world.
What Makes Christian Bioethics Unique?
Here are some key commitments that distinguish Christian bioethics:
- Imago Dei: Every human is made in the image of God, from embryo to elder.
- Sanctity of Life: Life is not a possession. It is a gift, entrusted to us.
- Redemptive Suffering: Pain is never good, but it can be meaningful.
- Moral Limits: Not everything we can do, we ought to do.
- Mercy and Justice: Ethics must hold both accountability and compassion.
These convictions shape how we approach topics like IVF, abortion, disability, gene editing, euthanasia, and AI. Not with trepidation, but with reverence.
Can Christian Bioethics Speak in a Pluralistic Society?
Absolutely—but not by dominating. By witnessing.
Christian bioethics doesn’t seek to coerce. It seeks to persuade. We believe truth has a gravitational pull. And when articulated with humility and care, Christian moral reasoning can enrich public debate, especially on questions our culture often avoids.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with Christian bioethics. But I do believe it offers something essential: a vision of the human person that refuses to reduce us to biology, utility, or consumer choice.
Thus, Not Just Ethics, But Discipleship
For Christians, bioethics is not a field to master. It’s a space of discipleship. It demands prayer, wisdom, courage, and love. We ask: How would Jesus treat this patient? How would He weigh this risk? What does it mean to bear witness to life in a world bent toward death?
Christian bioethics isn’t a relic of the past. It’s a prophetic voice for the future.
And if you’re ready to go deeper, I invite you to explore our companion post in Spanish: Introducción a la Bioética, where we unpack these questions from a Latin American perspective rooted in justice, mercy, and faith.
Samuel Caraballo, DBE MBE, MDIV, MPH
Founder of Bioethics.life
For a bioethics rooted in truth, justice, and mercy.
