Sárospataki Füzetek 14. (2010)
2010 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Rusthoven, James J.: Mit jelent embernek lenni a technika korában? Református keresztyén megközelítés.
What it means to be human in our technological age? their personal self.16 Such a split self reflects a dualistic worldview that pits personal commitments against medical ones. Its fails to see the uniting and ordering principle of love that emanates from a commitment to Christ. It fails to see all covenant relationships between human beings and their commitments as directed toward glory to God and the ultimate perfection of his kingdom. By contrast, Gerrit Glas, a Christian psychiatrist working out of a Christian philosophical tradition, sees such a God-centred anthropology as crucial to understanding medical relationships and medical issues and problems that arise from new medical biotechnologies.17 Glas also advocates for a greater attention to virtuous character and action on the part of caregivers and patients as well as their supporting community in developing a Christian concept of self in medical relationships. So how does this help us in addressing the problems of moral status in human beings and the application of moral status to ethical decision-making? A Reformed biblical covenantal ethic links closely the themes of covenant, kingdom, and creation. The covenant theme acts as a thread of continuity from creation onward through redemptive history.18 It establishes the initial relationship between human beings and God as special among all created creatures. In creating human beings in his own image, in giving us charge over the created order, and in establishing obligations of obedience and service, God graciously established a covenantal relationship. All of humankind benefit but all of humankind also suffer from the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Subsequent divine/human covenants kept humankind in covenant through God’s everlasting promises and patience despite repeated human failing to keep each covenant. Even the post-fall covenants were applicable to all of humankind, albeit through his chosen people Israel. Israel’s primary covenantal obligations were to keep covenant with God and to witness to the surrounding nations that returning to covenant with God would renew their lives and cultures as was originally intended. So within this covenantal ethic, all of humankind is invited to keep covenant with God and by doing so can reap the rewards of seeing the normative nature of relationships within medicine. Patients and caregivers now see each other engaged in discussions that recognize the vulnerable parties and seek to provide for their needs. However, such an ethic is also relevant for the most vulnerable, that is, the unborn and the severely disabled. For in a biblical covenantal ethic human/human relationships do not require reciprocity for covenant to be maintained. In other words, those who are unable to fully communicate by virtue of developmental inadequacies or by the loss of a previous capacity to relate to others fully are still perceived as fully human because they were created in the image of God. Their moral worth is intact by virtue of this creational gift and status within the created order. 16 Landis, D. A. (1993) ‘Physician Distinguish Thyself: Conflict and Covenant in a Physician’s Moral Development’, Perspectives in Biology and Mediane 36: 628-41. 17 Glas, G. (1995) ‘Ego, Self, and the Body. An Assessment of Dooyeweerd’s Philosophical Anthropology’, in S. Griffioen and B. M. Balk (eds.) Christian Philosophy at the Close of the Twentieth Century; Assessment and Perspective (Kämpen: Uitgeverij Kok) 67-78. 18 Spykman, G. (1992) Reformational Theology: A New Paradigm for Doing Dogmatics (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Co.). SÁROSPATAKI FÜZETEK 63
