Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy

Children have remained at the periphery of a dominant bioethics model that focuses on autonomy and envisions the normative human being as an independent, unencumbered, rational decision-maker. Adults who care for hospitalized children must do more to more fully recognize and appreciate their experiences and contributions in the moral landscape of healthcare. Exploring theological insight into vulnerability, dependence, and agency, Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy contends that theological anthropology can foster a posture of openness and responsiveness to the full humanity of children, and can reveal what it means to be human at every age. Interdisciplinary dialogue between bioethics, childhood studies, and pastoral theology is woven throughout with illustrative clinical vignettes from Jessica Bratt Carle’s experience as a pediatric chaplain and clinical ethicist.