Clones : the clowns of technology? / D. Gareth Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, D. Gareth (David Gareth), 1940-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human cloning.

Human cloning--Moral and ethical aspects.

Human cloning--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Physical Description:

ix, 192 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

Carlisle, Cumbria, UK ; Waynesboro, GA : Paternoster Press, 2001.

Summary:

Since 'Dolly the sheep' hit the headlines in 1997, cloning has been equated with human reproductive cloning. Everywhere we look we see pictures of identical babies, identical tyrants and identical heroes, as though this is what human cloning will amount to. This duplication motif has dominated discussions so that national leaders, parliaments and government committees have been carried away on a tide of fear and resentment. This book aims to place cloning in a more realistic setting. Writing from the perspective of a Christian biologist and anatomist, Dr Gareth Jones explores biomedical manipulation with specific reference to therapeutic cloning (or somatic cell nuclear transfer) plus stem cell technology and the human genome project. He follows the developments leading up to cloning, and assesses the arguments used against the various forms of cloning, including the arguments of Christians. This book goes well beyond cloning in a narrow sense, forcing us to ask questions like 'Can technology threaten God's image in humans?' as well as 'Are we not taking cloning, and our scientific expertise, too seriously?'.

Contents:

1. A Parable For Our Century 1

Living with clones: an imaginary society of the future 4

Why not clowns instead? 16

Coping with biomedical technology 19

2. And Then There Was Dolly 24

What is cloning? 25

Frustrated attempts at cloning 27

Cloning in the public eye 31

On the road to Dolly 39

The biotechnology revolution 43

The explosion that was Dolly 47

3. Beyond Dolly 55

Earlier debate on human reproductive cloning 55

Why clone a child? 61

Opposition to cloning: the debate today 64

Theological arguments against cloning 72

Alternative theological perspectives 79

Where are we now? 84

4. Beyond Reproductive Cloning 88

Human therapeutic cloning 89

Stem cells 92

Additional ethical issues raised by human therapeutic cloning 100

Reactions to stem cell technology 102

The Human Genome Project 107

The Human Genome Diversity Project 114

Genes, embryos and reproductive ethics 117

5. Biomedical Manipulation 123

From one world to another 124

On to a future world 127

Is technology threatening God's image in humans? 129

Manipulation in action 134

Searching for a Christian ethos 144

6. Brave New People 149

A salutary story 150

A second salutary story 152

Scientific naturalism and cloning 154

The surprising rejection of cloning 158

Christian signposts: the image of God 162

Christian signposts: neither cloned nor fertilized 166

Cloning and God's providence 168

Humour, clones and clowns 172.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [182]-186) and indexes.

ISBN:

1842270869

OCLC:

49526582