Dr. Tristram Engelhardt's lectures in the diocese - 09/07/11
From Wednesday, Sept. 7, to Sunday, Sept. 11, the diocese was pleased to host world renowned bioethicist, Dr. Tristram Engelhardt. In addition to holding a doctorate in medicine and philsophy, Dr. Engelhardt is a Reader in the Antiochian archdiocese.
His clear stance on various issues in healthcare and society on the whole reflects a decidedly Orthodox Christian perspective. With great boldness and without fear, Dr. Engelhardt exhorted that secular morality is not only fragmented but leads to death of the soul. It is only the life-giving church of ancient Christianity, the Orthodox Christian Church, that can deliver us from the perils of the secular world. In the words of Dr. Engelhardt,
“Moral pluralism is a reality. It is grounded, in part, in the intractable pluralism of secular morality and bioethics. There is a wide gulf that separates secular bioethics from Christian bioethics. Christian bioethics, unlike secular bioethics, understand that morality is about coming into a relationship with God. Orthodox Christian bioethics, moreover, understands that the impersonal set of moral principles and goals in secular morality gives a distorted account of the moral life. Therefore, Traditional Christian bioethics is separated from bioethics by a radical difference in paradigms.”
Dr. Engelhardt spoke at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Scranton, Bucknell University, St. Tikhon's Seminary, Holy Apostle's Mission in Mechanicsburg, and St. Paul Antiochian Church in Emmaus. All of the lectures were well-attended, with nearly 120 participants at the University of Scranton.
Video recordings of the lectures will become available soon on the diocesan website. An audio recording will be available on Ancient Faith Radio.