Abstract
In a succinct and eminently readable book, Pádraig Corkery opens up Catholic bioethics to experts and students alike. Bioethics and the Catholic Moral Tradition is straightforward and accessible without falling into jargon or straying into the speculative or the philosophical (as fruitful as these may be in other contexts).
Each chapter is followed with discussion questions, helpful further reading suggestions, and a relevant set of notes. The chapters are dived logically according to the following sections: the sources of Catholic moral theology, the content of Catholic moral teaching, Catholic moral teaching and the individual, and Catholic moral teaching and society. In many ways this book serves as a fair introduction to Catholic moral theology more generally, but of course its focus is squarely on bioethics, with particular reference to assisted human reproduction, embryonic stem cell research, end of life issues, and the administration of nutrition and hydration to persons in a Permanent Vegetative State (PVS). Readers will recognise that Corkery has chosen what some may term ‘hot button issues’. There are major areas that are largely untouched by this book, or at least not treated in detail, including some beginning of life issues or questions as to double effect, but the secondary sources listed throughout the book show us where to look if we want to explore those issues in detail.
In the complexities of fast-paced technological changes and a thicket of debate among Christians as to the appropriate ethical choices in today’s various medical challenges, Corkery’s voice is clear and unequivocally Catholic. He writes for the interested student who will read further, but does so from a Christian pastoral context, taking into consideration recent texts from the Magisterium alongside an uncomplicated reading of the moral teaching of the Bible. Of note is a constructive approach to Christian conscience and a presentation of Catholic moral teaching that recognises the uniquely Christian anthropology at the heart of such an ethics. This is one of those texts that can be handed to a student without fear of the content misrepresenting the topics treated, and with confidence in its use of sources.