MORE THAN THINGS
A PERSONALIST ETHICS FOR A THROWAWAY CULTURE
An imprint of InterVarsity Press
Downers Grove, Illinois
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400 | Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
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©2023 by Paul Louis Metzger
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Cover design: David Fassett
Image: © Jonathan Knowles / Getty Images
ISBN 978-0-8308-5112-6 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-5091-4 (print)
Jaylah Lee Metzger,
a most precious person;
and to my friend and mentor,
Robert Lyman Potter,
a profound personalist medical ethicist.
1 The Search for Missing Persons
The Loss and Recovery of Personalism
Metaphysical and Methodological Conditions for a Personalist Moral Vision
PART TWO: FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END OF LIFE
Pro-Life for All in a Throwaway Culture
4 More Than Genetic Perfection
A Personalist Approach to Sex and Marriage
6 More Than the Battle of the Sexes
Gender, Patriarchy, and the Imperative for Equality
7 More Than the Mere End or Extension of Life
PART THREE: FROM CLOSE TO HOME AND ACROSS THE GLOBE TO OUTER SPACE
Race, Power, and the Beloved Community
9 More Than Import Market Value
Immigration Reform Beyond Meritocracy
11 More Than Domination of the Earth
12 More Than Space Exploration
The Ethics of the Final Frontier
In the pages that follow, I argue that personalism provides a moral compass to navigate various pressing ethical issues on the road to human flourishing in our pluralistic society. In a book on personalism, it is quite fitting that I start out by acknowledging a host of people. I would not have made it to my destination of completing this work if it had not been for them.
The volume has been many years in the making and began with former InterVarsity Press editor Gary Deddo’s invitation to submit a proposal ...
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About More than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway CultureWe live in a culture of commodification. People are too often defined by what they do or own; they’re treated as means to an end or cogs in a machine. What goes missing is a deep sense of personhood—the belief that all humans are unique subjects with inherent worth and the right to self-determination in authentic communion with others. In a world dominated by things, Paul Louis Metzger argues, we must work hard to account for one another’s personhood. We need to cultivate relational structures that honor every human’s dignity in vital interpersonal community. The theological and philosophical framework known as personalism can help guide us toward such a culture. Drawing from a wide range of thought leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II, Metzger presents a personalist moral vision founded on the Christian ideals of faith, hope, and love. He demonstrates how this moral compass can help us navigate a pluralistic world by applying it to a variety of pressing ethical issues, including abortion, genetic engineering, immigration, drone warfare, and more. Ultimately human personhood begins with the personal, triune God, who invites us to live more fully as human beings. When we refuse to reduce our fellow humans—and ourselves—to mere abstractions or objects, we follow the example of Jesus in honoring the value of every person and of creaturely life as a whole. |
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