Biomedical Ethics in the Reformed Tradition

Abstract

Like most religious traditions, the Reformed movement (churches stemming from Calvin’s reformation) is today a pluralistic and dynamic phenomenon. All attempts, therefore, to quick-freeze a slice which would somehow represent both a norm and the present state of thought inevitably end up violating the inherent variety and vitality which is the ongoing character of any tradition semper reformando. In addition to this difficulty, one is never quite sure where to look for that elusive “normative center” of a given tradition. The convictions and commitments of the laity are shown by all studies to differ dramatically from those of the clergy. In Presbyterian assemblies, for example, lay, and even clerical, views are often even more discordant with the views of denominational leaders and appointed working groups. Does one look to the teaching and writing theologians who may represent cutting-edge thought that has not yet penetrated the ecclesiastical and provincial realms of the Church’s life?