The years following World War II witnessed much discussion about and reflection on the idea of human dignity. In 1949, with the Holocaust and the Nuremberg trials fresh in mind, the drafters of the new West German constitution, or Grundgesetzt, included in its opening article the statement that “the dignity of man is inviolable.” A year earlier, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights referred to the “inherent dignity” of human beings and proclaimed that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” In the 1960s and 1970s, numerous constitutions drafted in the wake of...

That human beings are important is something we take for granted, and not only because we are human beings (or so we think—more on this later). It is a theme that has provoked reflection since time immemorial, and not only for us human beings: the question of the Psalmist—“What is man that thou art mindful of him?” (Ps 8:4, 144:3; cf. Jb 7:17; Heb 2:6)—presumes that no less than God himself recognizes our worth! However, over recent decades, the subject of human dignity has become very controversial, especially as it has come to be utilized as a...

In his encyclical on ecumenism, Ut unum sint, Pope John Paul II made clear a desire that the Catholic magisterium might serve to enrich and deepen the faith of all Christians. The reflections that follow on Catholic social doctrine—a key focus of the magisterium in the modern age—are offered in this same spirit, inviting Christians of various confessional and denominational loyalties to think with—if understandably not always in full agreement—the Catholic Church, in the hope that “visible unity” among divided Christians might, in the fullness of time, become an actual reality.

It is of considerable importance,...

What does it mean to be human?¹ What does it mean to be “one of us”? The emerging revolution in biotechnology challenges us to redefine human nature for the sake of technological development. Advances in genetic engineering, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, cybernetics, robotics, and nanotechnology depend in large measure on our willingness as a culture to recast what it means to be human. In ecumenical collaboration, Christians from all backgrounds ought to be invested in thinking through and thinking well about these issues.

Xenotransplantation and trans-species genetic engineering already have the potential to produce chimeras—living members of our species that...

The three essays gathered here constitute an ecumenical conversation about important ideas that merit our attention. One speaker in the conversation draws on the Fathers of the Christian church (and especially, some of the Eastern Fathers); another draws primarily on the high scholastic thought of St. Thomas and on authoritative papal teaching of the last two centuries; a third draws primarily on the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as well as Protestant confessional statements. Yet, they enter the conversation not only as representatives of different Christian traditions and communions but also as those who have one Lord, and...