Paul Ramsey – författare

“Because those who come after us may not be like us, or because those like us may not come after us, or because after a time there may be none to come after us, mankind must now set to work to insure that those who come after us will be more unlike us.  In this there is at work the modern intellect’s penchant for species suicide.”  With these words Paul Ramsey brings to a conclusion his provocative and surprising study of the problems we are encountering – and will encounter – as scientific advances make the genetic control of man a real possibility.  Now, increased knowledge of chromosome structure has taken the alteration of the human race out of the realm of science fiction and placed it in the hands of laboratory scientists.  Ramsey sees this advance in science and technology as a mixed blessing.  He examines the ramifications of genetic control, not only the now common measures of birth control and artificial insemination, but also the effect on the genetic pool of the increasing numbers of genetically poor individuals.  His concern for humanistic values informs each argument as he tackles such issues as asexual reproduction of men, frozen semen banks, and the breeding of human beings for special purposes. No less than the future of man as we know him hangs on these issues.  One must pay particular attention to this book.

“So here we have an entity too alive to be dead, not mature enough to be a viable baby, yet human enough to be specially protectable.”  -- Paul Ramsey  A storm has been brewing over legal and ethical questions raised by experimentation on still-living human fetuses.  The discussion is complicated by its connection with the issue of abortion: in recent debates, fetal research has become fetal politics.  The Ethics of Fetal Research distinguishes between these two questions.  Paul Ramsey first outlines the various types of fetal research now being done and grants their potential benefits.  He then describes the development of proposed American guidelines up to the National Research Act, passed by Congress in 1974.  He compares these guidelines with England’s recent “Peel Report.”  In considering the moral and ethical problems involved in fetal research, he deals with ways in which medical policy is formulated in the United States.  This important continuation of Paul Ramsey’s contribution to medical ethics does not tell the reader what to think about experimentation on fetuses, but how to think about his new form of human research.

The tremendous changes in society’s attitudes toward abortion, euthanasia, the right to die, and other related life-and-death issues are reflected in recent court decisions and in new legislation.  This important book by one of America’s leading writers in the field of medical ethics analyzes these legal issues at the ethical level, showing how our laws and practices affect and reflect the morality of our times.   Ramsey is concerned with medicine, ethics, law, and with medical and public policy.  He examines relevant laws and court decisions that make policy, but not without a healthy measure of moral argument and critical assessment.  Among the recent legal issues that he analyzes in detail are the decision of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in the Quinlan case; the rights of defective newborn infants; the Edelin negligent manslaughter case; the “conscience clauses” in our federal code and in state statutes; the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Danforth; and California’s Natural Death Act.   Ramsey studies the reasoning behind the court’s decision or the law and holds up these legal processes as mirrors in which we can see reflected the state of moral questions as they are perceived by contemporary society.  A perceptive and well-informed social critic, he provides an ethical assessment of the discourse going on concerning issues of medical practice and public policy.   "What [Ramsey] has to say must be of compelling interest to everyone concerned with the moral problems of medicine, life and death and not merely to those who share his faith. This is . . . probably the single most important text in the area of medical ethics written in modern times. . . . It is a book that cannot itself be summarized; it has to be read."—Alasdair MacIntyre, The New Republic "Ramsey’s arguments . . . reflect great moral passion as well as his usual rigorous analysis."—James F. Childress, Religious Studies Review "Ramsey forces one to think deeply and systematically about issues that cannot be reduced to maxims or formulas. His work serves both as a challenge and as an inspiration."—New England Journal of Medicine"A monumental feat. Ramsey is neither a physician nor a lawyer, but I venture to say that he has much to offer members of each profession – and a great deal to offer the average reader. His analysis of the legal issues at the ‘edges of life’ and his critical assessment of the relevant court decisions are brimful, probing and provocative. A meaty book, beautifully written."—Yale Kamisar Ethics at the Edges of Life was selected as an outstanding book for 1979 in the Scholarly Books category of the National Religious Book Awards.

Paul Ramsey was one of this century's most important ethicists. From the publication of his classic Basic Christian Ethics in 1950 until his death in 1988, his writings decisively shaped moral discourse and reflection in the areas of theology, law, politics, and medicine.This collection of Ramsey's most important essays on Christian, political, and medical ethics displays the scope and depth of his vision, highlighting both the character of his theological commitments and the continuing significance of his work for the pressing moral problems of our day. Selections deal with such issues as race relations, sexuality and marriage, war, the meaning of Christian love, abortion, and medical care for the sick and dying. A general introduction by William Werpehowski and Stephen Crocco evaluates Ramsey's career and accomplishments and reviews contemporary criticism of his output and legacy. Shorter introductions to each selection point out crucial themes and lines of development in Ramsey's thought.

As physicians are faced with new and wonderful options for saving lives, transplanting organs, and furthering research, they also must wrestle with new and troubling choices—who should receive scarce and vital treatment, how we determine when life ends, what limits should be placed on care for the dying, and more. This book by renowned theologian Paul Ramsey, first published thirty years ago, anticipated these moral and ethical issues and addressed them with cogency and power, providing the intellectual foundations for the field of bioethics. This second edition of Ramsey’s classic work includes a new foreword by Margaret Farley and essays by Albert R. Jonsen and William F. May that help to locate and interpret Ramsey historically and intellectually.Praise for the earlier edition:“For its strong, well-argued positions, its documentation and references, and its assistance in bringing confused strands of thought into focus, The Patient as Person willbe used for many years.”—Michael Novak, New York Times “Amid the plethora of books on medical ethics that merely skim the surface, this one solidly examines most aspects of the question––from the definition of death to organ transplantation.”—Christianity Today“Notable for its clear moral reasoning and its thorough examination of all morally relevant issues.”—Journal of Religion“[Ramsey’s] study is a masterpiece of thoroughness in evaluating conflicting moral claims which become explicit in crucial medical situations.”—Dolores Dooley-Clarke, Philosophical Studies

This inaugural volume in The Works of Jonathan Edwards is his major contribution to theology and stands as a leading document on Calvinist thought.  Mr. Ramsey’s introduction provides a fresh analysis of Edwards’ theological position, includes a study of his life and the intellectual issues in the America of his time, and examines the problem of free will in the philosophical context of today and in connection with Leibniz, Locke, and Hume.

A comprehensive work in the field of Christian ethics, Basic Christian Ethics remains, more than fifty years after its original publication, an engaging and important work.The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.

The study of religion, traditionally sponsored by sectarian institutions, has within recent decades come to claim an increasingly larger share of attention in colleges and universities generally, and in the process the constituent intellectual disciplines have undergone significant changes. In this volume, twelve distinguished scholars take stock of the current state of the field and explore the prospects for future development. The areas covered in the essays (with their authors) are biblical studies (Stendhal), Western religious history (Clebsch), philosophy of religion (Diamond), theology (McGill), Catholic studies (Preller), Jewish studies (Neusner), sociology of religion (Harrison), comparative religious ethics (Little), history of religions (Sullivan), religion and art (Turner), and religion and literature (Driver). A "practical commentary" on the current state of the field (Gustafson) concludes the volume.Taken together, the essays provide an overview of the subject matter of religion study that should enable scholars of religion to situate and define their own work while helping others to appreciate the claims that work has upon the resources and concerns of colleges and universities. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The study of religion, traditionally sponsored by sectarian institutions, has within recent decades come to claim an increasingly larger share of attention in colleges and universities generally, and in the process the constituent intellectual disciplines have undergone significant changes. In this volume, twelve distinguished scholars take stock of the current state of the field and explore the prospects for future development. The areas covered in the essays (with their authors) are biblical studies (Stendhal), Western religious history (Clebsch), philosophy of religion (Diamond), theology (McGill), Catholic studies (Preller), Jewish studies (Neusner), sociology of religion (Harrison), comparative religious ethics (Little), history of religions (Sullivan), religion and art (Turner), and religion and literature (Driver). A "practical commentary" on the current state of the field (Gustafson) concludes the volume.Taken together, the essays provide an overview of the subject matter of religion study that should enable scholars of religion to situate and define their own work while helping others to appreciate the claims that work has upon the resources and concerns of colleges and universities. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Recent conflicts, such as the Persian Gulf War of the 1990s and the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 show that the idea of what constitutes a 'just war' remains a crucial issue in politics and ethics today. With a new foreword by noted theologian and ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, this classic text on war and the ethics of modern statecraft written at the height of the Vietnam era in 1968 speaks to a new generation of readers. In defending just war against Christian pacifism and arguing against those who maintain that the end justifies the means in the conduct of a war, Ramsey joins a line of theological reasoning that traces its antecedents to Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Ramsey argues that decisions regarding war must be governed by 'political prudence.' Whether a particular war should be fought, and at what level of violence, depends, Ramsey writes, on one's count of the moral costs and benefits. Characterized by a sophisticated yet back-to-basics approach, his analysis begins with the assumption that force is a fact in political life which must either be reckoned with or succumbed to. He then grapples with modern challenges to traditional moral principles of 'just conduct' in war, the 'morality of deterrence,' and a 'just war theory of statecraft.'

In the wake of Operation Desert Storm, the question of 'just war' has become a hotly contested issue, and this classic text on war and the ethics of modern statecraft written at the height of the Vietnam era in 1968 speaks to a new generation of readers. In defending just war against Christian pacifism, Ramsey joins a line of theological reasoning that traces its antecedents to Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Ramsey argues that decisions regarding war must be governed by 'political prudence.' Whether a particular war should be fought, and at what level of violence, depends, Ramsey writes, on one's count of the moral costs and benefits. Characterized by a sophisticated yet back-to-basics approach, his analysis begins with the assumption that force is a fact in political life which must either be reckoned with or succumbed to. He then grapples with modern challenges to traditional moral principles of 'just conduct' in war, the 'morality of deterrence,' and a 'just war theory of statecraft.'