ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Alastair V. Campbell’s contributions to practical or pastoral theology in the 1970s and 1980s in their relation to his developing interest in healthcare ethics. It then sets his theological contributions into their social and ecclesial context and, specifically, the tensions between realist and fideist theological approaches that emerged, especially in the US, in the 1960s. It looks in some detail at the sharp theological and ethical differences in the 1960s evident between the theological writings of Joseph Fletcher and Paul Ramsey and the continuing differences between James Childress and Stanley Hauerwas today. The chapter concludes that realist and fideist theological approaches to healthcare ethics address rather different audiences, with realists being more appropriate in one context and fideists in another. It also emphasises the need for continuing cooperation across theological and philosophical divisions in healthcare ethics.
