Covenants of Life

This volume captures an exchange between Paul Ramsey and his most prominent colleagues. In one sense it remains a Festschrift in his honour, characterized, at times, by a markedly informal tone. Yet, in the spirit of both the analytical rigour and the self-exposure that marked Ramsey's career, this volume is not simply a tribute to Ramsey's lifework but rather a vehicle for intense conversation and argument about issues of human birth, life, suffering, and death. The editors see it as a state-of-the-art discussion that brings the best insights from Judeo-Christian thought into contact with wider and more public arenas of medical ethics. Of course, such a collection as this grants Ramsey the permission to have the last word. But this final word is entrusted to a mature and remarkably open mind, still sharpening its critical skills and risking exposure to new issues and voices.