Burdened Agency
eBook - ePub

Burdened Agency

Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Burdened Agency

Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics

About this book

Travis Pickell explores the paradoxes of choice in modern dying and the ways Christian theology can aid in navigating the relationship between moral agency and dignity at the end of life.

Burdened Agency addresses the problem of death and dying through Christian theology and ethics. In previous centuries, death was something that simply "happened" to us. To choose how or when one died was the exception, not the rule. However, due to advances in modern medicine, individuals are increasingly required to make concrete choices about the nature and timing of death. Modernity, with its emphasis on individualism, complicates this further because we are increasingly bereft of cultural and religious guidance regarding death. This gives rise to the phenomenon of "burdened agency": the predicament of having to make such difficult choices with so little to help us.

This engaging book offers a historical and philosophical account of the origins of our situation of burdened agency, as well as a Christian solution to the problems that it raises. Looking to theologians such as Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, and Stanley Hauerwas, Pickell devises a radically countercultural approach to death and dying rooted in Christian theological commitments and enacted in the practices of baptism, Eucharist, and prayer.

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Yes, you can access Burdened Agency by Travis Pickell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Ethics in Medicine. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction: The Landscape of Modern Dying
  9. ONE Burdened Agency
  10. TWO Scripts for Dying
  11. THREE Persons, Freedom, and a Catholic Spirituality of Martyrdom
  12. FOUR Karl Barth on Agency in Dying: Accepting Creaturely Finitude
  13. FIVE Stanley Hauerwas on Agency in Dying: Ethics of Dispossession
  14. SIX Prayer, Baptism, and Eucharist
  15. Conclusion: Humanity Sub Specie Mortis
  16. Notes
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index