Healthcare Ethics and Human Dignity Initiative

We exist to promote awareness and understanding of the ethical implications of advances in the life sciences and health professions as they touch on the value of people made in the image of God. We hope to be a trusted presence. We seek to promote interdisciplinary reflections on the philosophical, theological and practical ramifications of research and technology using means that maintain a healthy biblical and theological perspective on human personhood and dignity, in keeping with values recognized throughout the Christian tradition. The initiative seeks to increase proficiency in bioethics for the benefit and education of Harding students, the church, healthcare professionals and the community.

The Healthcare Ethics & Human Dignity Initiative is brand new, but our story began 50 years ago. In 1971, the same year the term “bioethics” was coined, Harding alumnus David Smith graduated from medical school. He began to experience firsthand the difficult questions surrounding the beginning and end of life. He felt he was poorly trained to deal with these ethically challenging issues and wondered how many Christian doctors felt the same. He began a journey of study and exploration in the theological and philosophical foundations for a Christian perspective on bioethical issues.

Blessed by God financially, Smith has pioneered this new initiative, helping secure the initial funds and helping select the director. He now serves on the executive team along with other incredibly noteworthy leaders. Dr. Robert Lawrence, for example, is a Harding alumnus who has recently been named Chief Medical Officer for the State of Alaska. He, like Smith, holds both a Doctor of Medicine and master’s degree in Christian bioethics from the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Currently, the David E. Smith Healthcare Ethics & Human Dignity Initiative is led by a wide range of highly credentialed leaders across a variety of disciplines, both within the Harding community and beyond; in the United States and around the world. Our dream is to be a recognized voice of Christian wisdom on ethical issues every family will face, preparing a generation to lead with the love of Christ.

• The initiative envisions the formation of undergrad and graduate students into faithful, morally excellent, knowledgeable, self-disciplined, steadfast, reverent and beneficial people who are compelled by love to address ethical issues with Christian humility, nuanced sensitivity and robust theological sensibility.
  
  
• The initiative prepares leaders in healthcare, ministry, science, government and a variety of other fields to speak to the ethical ramifications of contemporary advances in biomedical research and technology.
  
  
• The initiative prepares doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in the earliest stages of training for future practice as trusted experts who are dedicated to being present with suffering human beings without compromising the dignity of individual personhood.
  
  
• The initiative serves as a resource for trusted guidance regarding how followers of Jesus in any profession may engage contemporary ethical issues that arise in the health and human sciences.
  
  
• The initiative is designed to equip ministers, missionaries and church leaders to address congregational issues involving beginning-of-life, quality-of-life and end-of-life decisions.
  
  
• The initiative cultivates proficiency in bioethical issues among Christian leaders of churches, government, research facilities, community development programs and healthcare organizations with the goal of raising leaders who can be a trusted voice in the public sphere regarding bioethical issues that arise in healthcare, science, engineering, politics, law and education.

CLASSROOM
Working across multiple disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels, the initiative will focus on student engagement and course instruction in Christian medical ethics, focusing on topics at the intersection of theology, healthcare, identity, culture and spiritual formation.

COLLEAGUES
The initiative will provide faculty development on how issues involving bioethics and human dignity may best be addressed in the classroom and with credentialing bodies.