Bioethics and the challenges of the 21st century.

Abstract

Bioethics is both a field of academic research and practical activity. It is understood as a body of scholarship directed to a better understanding of moral problems associated with health care and the biomedical sciences. As Romanian Orthodox experience the transformation of their culture through importing Western science and technology, they must critically assess the moral presuppositions that come attached to these forces. An authentic Orthodox Christian approach to health care and the biomedical sciences, as well as to bioethics, must develop a critical maturity. The challenge of Orthodox Christians in Romania is to join with Orthodox elsewhere in articulating an authentically Orthodox Christian bioethics.