Lutherans Writing About Genetic Testing

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has assembled a panel of authors to prepare a volume on genetic testing and screening.  The group includes "well-established theologians, social ethicists, people who deal with individual ethics -- a genetic counselor, a pediatrician, a clinical geneticist, a chaplain," said the Rev. Roger A. Willer, project director for the ELCA Division for Church in Society.
     Lutherans are already talking about and making decisions about genetic testing and screening as members of American society, said Willer.  "We've not really thought about genetic testing and screening in a systematic way and about the pastoral, ethical and theological implications that it raises."
     Genetic testing and screening involves a series of medical procedures to study the chromosomes of a fetus for the purpose of detecting inherited defects, diseases or other abnormalities.
     "There is conversation going on about genetic testing and screening, but it's not theologically informed.  It's secular. It's at governmental levels.  Where does faith connect into that? Where does our theology loop into that?  Our attempt is explicitly to think about these things before God," Willer said.
     In 1995 the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society began the process to produce "study material in the area of biotechnics, particularly in relation to theological, ethical and pastoral themes related to genetic technology."
     "Biotechnology may seem like an esoteric subject for Lutherans to be thinking about, but it is something that impacts our lives increasingly these days," said Ingrid Christiansen, board chair, Chicago.  "We want to keep up with this game, so we can help Lutherans think about the ethics of some of the issues."
     "We are not trying to produce study materials for adult study in a congregation," said Willer.  "First we need to do the thinking that will provide a foundation for study materials of that type."
     The volume will include a "primer" on genetics and a section of examples where genetic testing and screening has required ethical considerations.
     Willer met with eight authors here May 2-4 to compare their initial assignments and to determine how their finished products will fit together in a single volume.  He said he's still looking for someone to write about genetic testing and screening from a business point of view.
     Those writing chapters for the volume are:  Dr. Elizabeth Bettenhausen, social ethicist, Brighton, Mass.; the Rev. Philip Hefner, theologian, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; the Rev. Lawrence E. Holst, retired chaplain, Seabrook Island, S.C.; Dr. Robert R. Lebel, geneticist, Elmhurst, Ill.; the Rev. Theodore F. Peters, theologian, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.; Dr. Kevin Powell, pediatrician, Urbana, Ill.; Kirstin J. Schwandt, M.S., genetic counselor, Bloomington, Ind.; and Dr. Hans O. Tiefel, ethicist, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
     The writers will communicate with each other but will not meet as a group again until November.  They plan to exchange first drafts of their work in October.  The finished volume is to be available at the end of 1998.
     The Rev. John R. Stumme, ELCA associate director for studies, and Michelle E. Parson, administrative assistant for studies, staff the project.

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