God’s Story and Bioethics: The Christian Witness to The Reconciled World

In this article, I seek to put Engelhardt’s work on Christian bioethics in the wider context. First, I discuss some fundamental issues inextricably linked to his work: the difference and relation of a “secular world” to the Christian notion of the “world,” the difference and relation between the concepts of “history” given with human “progress” appearing in the field of bioethics, in contrast to the Christian understanding of God’s story with His “world.” These issues will be discussed in connection with the philosophical work of Karl Löwith and Jürgen Habermas, among others. Next, I critically discuss Engelhardt’s genealogical account of “modernity,” in order to draw—with agreement—attention to this genealogy’s implications for the Christian epistemology needed for a proper understanding of human nature (the conditio humana). Discursive rational argument is not enough to secure a proper understanding of human nature, says Engelhardt. Yet, it will be shown that through the practice of Christian witness as a “good work”—which brings along with it different essential modes of understanding human nature—the Christian can encounter secular public discourse. I examine how the witness of a Christian ethos may contribute indispensable insights for public and secular discourse; this witness, I argue, implies radical consequences for medical research and treatment. Despite my general agreement with his work, one of my central theses will be that Engelhardt rests content too early in embracing an empty procedural account of the justice that can be achieved by the state. Christian witness can and ought to contribute more than this.