Bioethics expert Paige Comstock Cunningham to speak at Olivet

Olivet Nazarene University will host Paige Comstock Cunningham, J.D., executive director for The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (CBHD), as guest speaker on Thursday, November 21, 2013. Her presentation, which is open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Wisner Hall of Nursing on Olivet’s campus.

Cunningham’s presentation is “Outsourcing Our Bodies: Dignity, Desire and Human Flourishing.” Advances in medicine, science and technology tempt people to view human bodies as resources that can be bought or sold, or as machines that can be endlessly repaired and upgraded. Christians endure these same temptations and may move away from their rich theological views of human persons. Cunningham will address an alternative vision, rooted in human dignity and human flourishing.

This event is sponsored by Olivet’s Phi Alpha Theta (history honor society), Pi Sigma Alpha (political science honor society), Law & Politics Society, Capitol Hill Gang, University Honors Program, and The Center for Law and Culture.

Cunningham — a graduate of Taylor University, Northwestern University Law School and Trinity International University — lectures regularly and is widely published in the areas of law, bioethics and public policy . She provides Christian moral perspectives on vital bioethical issues, such as reproductive technologies, genetic intervention and neuroethics. She has testified before congressional committees at the state and national levels and is a regular commentator for the “Everyday Bioethics” program on Moody Radio.

She has also been a contributor for the nationally syndicated “BreakPoint” radio program, as well as for Her Dignity Network, AC Nation Radio, Family Research Council, and “Her.Meneutics” magazine, among others.

Cunningham is regularly quoted and included as an expert in a variety of publications, including “The Right to Patent a Human Being: Fact, Fiction, or Future Possibility?”; “Parenthood Denied”; The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies, and the Family; and Why the Church Needs Bioethics: A Guide to Wise Engagement with Life’s Challenges.

There is no admission charge for this event. For more information, call 815-928-5552 or email Tammy Galvan-Barnett at tgalvan@olivet.edu.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (CBHD) is a Christian bioethics research center at Trinity National University that explores the nexus of biomedicine, biotechnology and our common humanity. Founded in 1994, CBHD is committed to fostering a distinctly Christian conception of bioethics that is both academically rigorous and broadly accessible. Collaborations with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, Nurses Christian Fellowship, Christian Legal Society plus several international institutions have expanded CBHD’s influence and extended its message.