Children, Theology, and Bioethics

Children remain at the periphery when bioethics envisions autonomous adults as normative human beings. Children, Theology, and Bioethics: Beyond Autonomy explores the full humanity of children, inviting greater recognition of their place in the moral landscape of healthcare. Theological insights into vulnerability, dependence, and agency summon appreciation for the experiences of pediatric patients and reveal what it means to be human at every age. Interdisciplinary dialogue between bioethics, childhood studies, and pastoral theology is woven throughout with illustrative clinical vignettes from Bratt Carle’s experience as a pediatric chaplain and clinical ethicist.