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Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 4/2011

Open Access 01-12-2011 | original paper

‘There is a Time to be Born and a Time to Die’ (Ecclesiastes 3:2a): Jewish Perspectives on Euthanasia

Authors: Goedele Baeke, Jean-Pierre Wils, Bert Broeckaert

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 4/2011

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Abstract

Reviewing the publications of prominent American rabbis who have (extensively) published on Jewish biomedical ethics, this article highlights Orthodox, Conservative and Reform opinions on a most pressing contemporary bioethical issue: euthanasia. Reviewing their opinions against the background of the halachic character of Jewish (biomedical) ethics, this article shows how from one traditional Jewish textual source diverse, even contradictory, opinions emerge through different interpretations. In this way, in the Jewish debate on euthanasia the specific methodology of Jewish (bio)ethical reasoning comes forward as well as a diversity of opinion within Judaism and its branches.
Footnotes
1
Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Religion and World View (Catholic University Leuven, Belgium). Website: http://​theo.​kuleuven.​be/​page/​icsrw.
 
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Metadata
Title
‘There is a Time to be Born and a Time to Die’ (Ecclesiastes 3:2a): Jewish Perspectives on Euthanasia
Authors
Goedele Baeke
Jean-Pierre Wils
Bert Broeckaert
Publication date
01-12-2011
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 4/2011
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9465-9

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