%0 Journal Article
%T Genetic Enhancements and Relational Autonomy: Christian Ethics and the Child¡¯s Autonomy in Vulnerability
%A Alexander Massmann
%J Studies in Christian Ethics
%@ 1745-5235
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0953946818775558
%X Technical advances in genome editing methods raise the question how autonomy should figure in theological ethical debates about genetic enhancements. Thinking primarily of the parents¡¯ reproductive autonomy, several secular and theological thinkers argue parents should be allowed to ¡®enhance¡¯ an embryo genetically. J¨¹rgen Habermas¡¯s critique of enhancements in the name of the child¡¯s autonomy, meanwhile, has been met with a critique of autonomy in theology. This article argues that theological views about God¡¯s relationship to the creature provide strong theological grounds for a new appropriation of autonomy. A liberal maximisation of individual choice is to be viewed critically, but more recent discourses on relational autonomy see certain forms of vulnerability contribute to a communal understanding of autonomy. This view dovetails with Habermas¡¯s argument, according to which enhancements create too strong a temptation towards overly directive parenting¡ªless in modifying an embryo than in the ensuing relationship to the child
%K Autonomy
%K enhancements
%K genome editing
%K Habermas
%K relationality
%K vulnerability
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0953946818775558