ABSTRACT
As this chapter indicates, the theological literature has paid a good deal of attention to the nature of the living body and the relationship between body and soul but less to the way we respond (and should respond) to dead bodies. Jones’s essay seeks to address this deficiency, and it functions as a corrective of sorts to certain medical abuses of the past. Regarding bodily dissection, he suggests that this can help us better appreciate “the body as made in the image of God” and can be morally justifiable as long as the individual during his or her life provided informed consent, which is crucial within a Christian worldview that takes “a high view of the dead body.” On the retention of bodies and body parts post-mortem, he again highlights the importance of consent but also of an ethical awareness on the part of health care professionals and particularly a concern for the poor and marginalized that is inspired by Jesus’s example On the topic of plastination, Jones provocatively proposes that the informed consent of participants is not sufficient to warrant a donation aimed purely at attaining one’s “own post-mortal desires” or the entertainment of spectators.
