Abstract

Today, the sanctity of life is often identified as a Christian moral principle with deep roots in the biblical and theological traditions of the Christian churches. Examining scripture and the historical record, however, this dissertation cites ancient Stoicism and, more recently, the eighteenth century Enlightenment as the authentic sources for the notion that life is sacred. It goes on to note that, except for an isolated interlude involving John Calvin, the Christian churches did not adopt the sanctity of life concept until the late nineteenth and early-to-mid twentieth centuries. The dissertation contends that an embrace of the sanctity of life may actually represent an idolatrous trend for the Christian churches not in keeping with their traditional theocentric focus. A more circumspect respect for life is affirmed as the appropriate and faithful Christian stance on such controversial moral issues as abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. The role of the Christian churches as formative moral communities is emphasized as an alternative to the temptation to impose heteronomous rules on the society at large in the guise of protecting human life. In assessing the validity of a Christian sanctity of life stance, the perspectives of such theologians and ethicists as Emil Brunner, Karl Barth, Paul Ramsey, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Pope John Paul II, Stanley Hauerwas, and James Gustafson are reviewed