Some of humankind's greatest tools have been forged in the research laboratory. Who could argue that medical advances like antibiotics, blood transfusions, and pacemakers have not improved the quality of people's lives? But with each new technological breakthrough there comes an array of consequences, at once predicted and unpredictable, beneficial and hazardous.Outcry over recent developments in the reproductive and genetic sciences has revealed deep fissures in society's percepti...

In Bioethics and Medicine: A Short Companion, C. Ben Mitchell challenges the prevailing view of bioethics as solely a matter of expert problem-solving. Instead, he argues that the ethics of medicine is deeply rooted in an ancient profession with a rich moral heritage. This heritage, embodied in the Hippocratic Oath and other foundational texts, guides the practice of medicine and is at risk of being eroded if not actively defended by Christians.Mitchell ex...

Living in an era of highly technical medicine is comforting and sometimes confusing. How should Christians make life and death decisions? How do we move from an ancient text like the Bible to twenty-first-century questions about organ transplantation, stem-cell research, and human cloning? What kind of care do we owe one another at the end of life? Is euthanasia a Christian option?Using a dialogue format, an ethicist and physician talk about how to think about thorny ethical issues...

The Essentials in Christian Ethics series, edited by C. Ben Mitchell and Jason Thacker, is designed to illuminate the richness and centrality of ethics to all of the Christian life. The series consists of short, introductory volumes written by renowned scholars in the fields of ethics, theology, and philosophy. Each volume explores a crucial element of Christian ethical reflection, approaching the subject from within the broader Protestant moral tradition.

David VanDrunen’s Natural Law: A Short Companion outlines what Scripture teaches about natural law. Scripture never uses the term “natural law,” but it repeatedly refers to the reality of natural law or assumes its existence. The existence of natural law underlies what Scripture says about God’s own nature, the cosmic order, the image of God, human community, the gospel of Christ, and the final judgment. Moreover, the story of Scripture from the original creation to the new creati...

As artificial intelligence advances, healthcare faces a profound ethical question: Can machines truly care? This book critically examines the rise of AI-driven social robots--"carebots"--in patient care, evaluating their benefits and potential harms through the lens of Christian ethics. While AI may enhance efficiency and offer support in specific healthcare contexts, it also risks dehumanizing care, replacing genuine human presence with technological substitutes. Grounded in a theology of...

The study of ethics is primarily associated with questions of morality: “good” and “bad,” “right” and “wrong.” The field of metaethics asks about what we mean by terms like “good” or “right,” and whether they represent real features of the world.In Metaethics: A Short Companion, David A. Horner and J. P. Moreland provide a primer on how to think about questions surrounding the concept of morality—its nature, status, grounding, underlying presuppositions, and philosophical ...

Scripture presents a unified story of God’s redemptive history and vision for the Christian life. As such, the biblical canon serves as the foundation for Christian ethics. In Biblical Ethics: A Short Companion, Jacob Shatzer offers a primer in biblical ethics that explores principles and interpretative methods for understanding how the Bible speaks with a unified voice and vision for the Christian life.Shatzer begins by defining biblical ethics and examining its nature in...

Jesus’s final command to his disciples at the Last Supper is a calling to an ethic of love. In Christian Ethics: A Short Companion, renowned ethicist Gilbert Meilaender makes the case that all Christian ethics are an outworking of this command to love one another.Meilaender accordingly lays out a vision for the spirit and structure of the Christian life, while drawing directly upon theologians from the early church to the Reformation to today. He begins by examining the co...

Gay marriage. Embryonic stem cell research. Abortion. Such generation-defining issues loom large in our society and demand a thoughtful response. Helping Christians to interact with our morally confused world, Ben Mitchell challenges the relativism so rampant in the West today. In addition to examining the history of ethical reflection from Moses to Immanuel Kant, Mitchell also incorporates the voices of current Christian ethicists such as Stanley Hauerwas and N. T. Wright, proposing a hol...

In recent years, there has been a surge in animated projects that have pushed boundaries, broken taboos, prompted discussions and wowed festival and online audiences alike through compelling storytelling and unmatched artistry.Join Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley of Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and the Intimate Animation podcast as they take you on a tour of the landscape of contemporary animated films that deal with themes of love, intimacy, relationships, anatomy...

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. When we weren’t sheltering in place, we were advised to wear masks, wash our hands, and practice social distancing. We watched in horror as medical personnel worked around the clock to care for the sick and dying. Businesses were shuttered, travel stopped, workers were furloughed, and markets dropped. And people continued to die.Amid all this uncertainty, writers and artists from around the world continued to create com...