ABSTRACT
Engelhardt’s essay serves as a challenge to not only the readers of this volume but also its contributors. We are each one cautioned regarding the limits of theological dialogue on medicine. This admonition relates quite closely to the principal vision of Christian Bioethics, the journal Engelhardt founded to engage in non-ecumenical dialogue on questions that arise from the science and practice of medicine. Here the reader is reminded that there is not one monolithic tradition from which one might speak as a Christian. One might also be advised that in addition to the diversity of Christian voices, a panoply of religions is also at work to understand the problems and pains of human being, which are further influenced by the numerous modes of medicine, including Galenic, Western, Chinese, and so on. Accordingly, a given dialogue – for instance, between Orthodox monks and Southern Baptist pastors – faces the obstacles of different fundamental assumptions about science, medicine, and religion. That said, Engelhardt is quick to add that he does not mean to discourage such dialogue if it does not simply reduce religion to a means to some secular goal and takes differences seriously, for indeed it can lead to a fuller understanding of them.
