With medical advances, people are living longer than ever before, and in many cases, with a higher quality of life for much of that time. Despite the potential of a long, healthy life, however, many individuals find themselves facing end-of-life issues they never anticipated. And to Christians, those decisions may be especially difficult. In My Hope Is Built . . . Christian Perspectives on Decisions at the End of Life, author F. Walton Avery examines critical writings about available options for those facing end-of-life decisions for themselves or for someone they love. He looks at Christian responses to vital questions that come at the end of life. Avery looks closely at whether the prohibition against suicide or assisted death can be suspended and, in the name of Christian faith, the suffering individual be permitted to commit suicide or be party to assisted death. Regardless of circumstances, making end-of-life decisions are likely to be difficult. My Hope Is Built . . . Christian Perspectives on Decisions at the End of Life can help one make those decisions in light of their Christian beliefs.

My Hope Is Built ...: Christian Perspectives on Decisions at the End of Life

By F. Walton Avery

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 F. Walton Avery, MD, MTS
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-6413-7

Contents

Prologue............................................................................................xiAcknowledgments.....................................................................................xixIntroduction: How Christians May Respond to Suffering and Breakdown of Contents.....................11. Christian Social Ethics..........................................................................71.1. The Politics of Jesus: Nonviolence as Normative................................................71.2. The Gospel, Strictly Applied...................................................................142. Ethics for Care at the End of Life...............................................................172.1. (Only) Care for the Dying......................................................................172.2. Theological Basis for (Only) Care for the Dying................................................233. Historical Perspectives on Assisted Death........................................................253.1. Janet Adkins: Dying Before Her Time............................................................253.2. From Ancient Greece to Joseph Fletcher.........................................................284. Justification for Unassisted Suicide or Assisted Death...........................................334.1. Suspension of the Ethical Norm.................................................................334.2. Ultima Ratio: The Exceptional Case for Unassisted Suicide......................................384.3. Christians at the Frontier of Life and in Harm's Way...........................................475. Other Voices: The Essential Features of Terminal Care............................................526. Other Voices: Medical Advances in "Last Resort" Options..........................................567. When Death is Near, Does Hope Abide?.............................................................658. Conclusion: Answers to the Question Raised.......................................................699. Epilogue.........................................................................................73Bibliography........................................................................................75Glossary............................................................................................83

Chapter One

CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ETHICS

1.1. THE POLITICS OF JESUS: NONVIOLENCE AS NORMATIVE

This subsection, a synopsis of John Howard Yoder's The Politics of Jesus, requires attention to the biblical underpinnings of Yoder's claim that the witness of Jesus Christ represents the standard for Christian social ethics. Up until 1972, few theologians or biblical scholars dared to suggest that: (1) "Jesus was ... a social critic and an agitator ..." and (2) "Jesus ... (was) not only relevant but also normative for a contemporary Christian social ethic." But in that year, Yoder published his seminal work and made these two observations. He further explains: "I shall, in other words, be testing the hypothesis that runs counter to the prevalent assumptions: the hypothesis that the ministry and the claims of Jesus are best understood as presenting to men (sic) not the avoidance of political options, but one particular social-political-ethical option."

In an analysis of the life and work of Jesus Christ in the gospel of Luke, Yoder asks one simple question, "Is there a social ethic in this gospel that would be relevant and normative for us today?" In other words, does the Gospel compel the church to be different socially, politically, and ethically? Yoder concedes that "If ... Jesus, whoever he was, is no model for ethics, it then becomes immaterial in the detail who he was and what he did."

To support his belief that Jesus is a model for moral inquiry, Yoder presents the following analysis of Luke's gospel: (1) After Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, delights in her expected birth of Jesus, Mary sings a canticle, the "Magnificate." It includes the incredible claim that, "he (the Almighty) has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree (1.52)." Based on these aorist verb tenses, this "eschatological reversal" is presented as an accomplished fact, having occurred in the past, but continuing into the future. Yoder comments on the latter sense of the canticle: "In the present testimony of the gospel we are being told that the one whose birth is now being announced is to be an agent of radical social change," and concludes, "... he comes to break the bondage of his people." Fred Craddock, a Lukan scholar, expands on Yoder's notion of radical social change:

"More is involved than the social message and ministry of Jesus in behalf of the oppressed and poor. That will follow, to be sure, but here we have a characteristic of the final judgment of God in which there is a complete reversal of fortunes: the powerful and the rich will exchange places with the powerless and poor."

Yoder's analysis of Luke continues: (2) After Jesus has been baptized and tested in the desert, he goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and stands and reads Isaiah 61:1-2:

"The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord (Luke 4: 18-19)."

Yoder's interpretation of this passage is one of social revolution, "... the passage from Isaiah 61 which Jesus turns on himself is not only a most explicitly messianic one: it is one which states the messianic expectation in the most expressly social terms." This passage refers specifically to Jesus' reversing the oppression of God's people with the restructuring of their community. He anticipates the coming kingdom, interpreting his role as the Messiah to be one of intervention and renewal for the people of God. Furthermore, this proclaimed, "New Age," is to include the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Thus, it became an all-inclusive movement that filled the scribes and elders "with rage (4:28)."

Furthermore, (3) Jesus began to teach on the Sabbath (4:31), heal the sick and lame (4:39, 5:24), forgive sins (5:20), and consort with "undesirables" (5:27). He further compounds his problems by selecting from among his associates twelve men to be his disciples (6:12-16). At that point Jesus had become a formal movement and thus a political threat not only to the Jewish establishment, but the Roman as well. "New teachings," Yoder writes, "are no threat, as long as the teacher stands alone; a movement, extending his personality in both time and space, presenting an alternative to the structures that were there before, challenges the system as no mere words ever could."

A critical turn of events occurs in Chapter Nine, when, (4) after the feeding of the five thousand and the confession of Peter that you are "The Christ of God (9:20)," Jesus announces that "The Son of Man must suffer ... be rejected ... be killed, and on the third day be raised (v.22)." From then on Jesus, "... set his face to go to Jerusalem (v.51)." The crowds began to reject him, because he had become so "hardened" and determined to meet his fate there (v.53).

Thus it is clear to Yoder that Jesus...