wfn.org | Lutherans Writing About Genetic Testing

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 12, 1997

LUTHERANS WRITING ABOUT GENETIC TESTING
97-18-051-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
has assembled a panel of authors to prepare a volume on genetic
testing and screening.  The group includes "well-established
theologians, social ethicists, people who deal with individual
ethics -- a genetic counselor, a pediatrician, a clinical
geneticist, a chaplain," said the Rev. Roger A. Willer, project
director for the ELCA Division for Church in Society.
     Lutherans are already talking about and making decisions
about genetic testing and screening as members of American
society, said Willer.  "We've not really thought about genetic
testing and screening in a systematic way and about the pastoral,
ethical and theological implications that it raises."
     Genetic testing and screening involves a series of medical
procedures to study the chromosomes of a fetus for the purpose of
detecting inherited defects, diseases or other abnormalities.
     "There is conversation going on about genetic testing and
screening, but it's not theologically informed.  It's secular.
It's at governmental levels.  Where does faith connect into that?
Where does our theology loop into that?  Our attempt is
explicitly to think about these things before God," Willer said.
     In 1995 the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society
began the process to produce "study material in the area of
biotechnics, particularly in relation to theological, ethical and
pastoral themes related to genetic technology."
     "Biotechnology may seem like an esoteric subject for
Lutherans to be thinking about, but it is something that impacts
our lives increasingly these days," said Ingrid Christiansen,
board chair, Chicago.  "We want to keep up with this game, so we
can help Lutherans think about the ethics of some of the issues."
     "We are not trying to produce study materials for adult
study in a congregation," said Willer.  "First we need to do the
thinking that will provide a foundation for study materials of
that type."
     The volume will include a "primer" on genetics and a section
of examples where genetic testing and screening has required
ethical considerations.
     Willer met with eight authors here May 2-4 to compare their
initial assignments and to determine how their finished products
will fit together in a single volume.  He said he's still looking
for someone to write about genetic testing and screening from a
business point of view.
     Those writing chapters for the volume are:  Dr. Elizabeth
Bettenhausen, social ethicist, Brighton, Mass.; the Rev. Philip
Hefner, theologian, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; the
Rev. Lawrence E. Holst, retired chaplain, Seabrook Island, S.C.;
Dr. Robert R. Lebel, geneticist, Elmhurst, Ill.; the Rev.
Theodore F. Peters, theologian, Pacific Lutheran Theological
Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.; Dr. Kevin Powell, pediatrician,
Urbana, Ill.; Kirstin J. Schwandt, M.S., genetic counselor,
Bloomington, Ind.; and Dr. Hans O. Tiefel, ethicist, College of
William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
     The writers will communicate with each other but will not
meet as a group again until November.  They plan to exchange
first drafts of their work in October.  The finished volume is to
be available at the end of 1998.
     The Rev. John R. Stumme, ELCA associate director for
studies, and Michelle E. Parson, administrative assistant for
studies, staff the project.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html