作者：曹傑明 / 中譯：羅懿信
今年二月廿七曰，美國 CNN 電視報道：「加洲一對夫婦因不捨與他們的愛犬 Marley 惜別把牠複製了。」這看似大團圓結局的佚事，雖展示了現代複製科技的潛能，卻隱藏了背後的種種道德倫理問題。
不少基督徒聲稱以聖經作為道德指標，給予他們的是個人甚至社會整體一個倫理指引。但如 Marley 這例子顯示，把這遠古文獻套用於現代急速轉變的世界有時是非常困難，絕不簡單。聖經對「複製狗」有什麼的教導？若將來以同樣的動機和科技來複製人又怎麼樣？解答此等問題的艱澀，引伸出若要在不同事物上立下基督徒的定位、信仰上的立場，絕非翻翻聖經、揮指一點便可立論。面對如斯問題，基督徒是否採取模稜兩可、全盤接受坊間立場、又或單憑直覺的回應來否定、或更甚不聞不問、不予置評呢？誠如我的倫理神學教授葛倫斯所言：「要以基督徒身份活在當今的世界，我們就必須參與在其中。這樣的參與包含三個層面，這三的層面可以簡述為了解 (attuning)、分析 (analyzing)、與實踐 (applying)。」
我很榮幸能在此專欄中與大家交流。儘管我的研究從撰寫博士論文至今皆集中於早期猶太教背景中的宗教倫理學，但寫此專欄的目的及期盼，卻是一位 24/7 牧養群羊、與羊同行的牧師，向他的、及祂的群羊分享領受，進入他們的世界中，傾吐心跡。在此專欄的第一篇文章，我想借用複製狗這案例來跟大家開始演示葛倫斯 (Stanley Grenz) 的「基督徒倫理參與」的三層方法。
了解 (ATTUNING)
這一步是要去搜集與議題相關的事實，包括從社會一般觀點及從基督信仰獨特觀點的尋索。以「複製狗」為例：
1. 處景 (context)：失去愛犬
2. 動機 (motivation)：因愛犬曾救妻子一命，夫婦盼能留牠在旁
3. 方法 (means)：以五萬美元透過商業公司 ViaGen 複製
a. 生物複製科技於 1996 年成功複製出「複製羊」多莉(Dolly)
b. 2004年開始把動物複製應用於商業用途
c. 「複製狗」過程 - 在狗死之前或之後短時間內，抽取包含原狗基因的細胞，注入另一母狗的卵子細胞內
d. 人工胚胎形成後再放進母狗的子宮內，讓胚胎自然地成長至生產
e. 所誕生的複製狗彷如原狗的同卵雙胞胎，只是不同時空以別一頭狗代孕
4. 結果 (result)：「複製狗」與「已殞狗」擁有相同外貌、個性、喜好，令主人開懷
5. 法律 (legality)：商業與否，現行美加法律沒有禁止複製動物
6. 基督信仰 (Christian faith)：最後，若我們沒有了解我們的聖經詮釋和神學傳統對某議題有什麼相關的觀點，我們不能做基督徒的倫理參與。簡略來說，這類的觀點包括：
a. 沒有經文直接談論到複製動物的議題
b. 儘管聖經沒有將動物與人類看為同等，但聖經還是肯定了動物生命的神聖價值，從獻祭用的動物到寵物再到野生動物，因為它們都是神所創造和照顧的
c. 聖經提及人類與動物應有的關係，特別是人類應該如何對待神所託付他們照顧的動物
d. 從神學上講，死亡的悲情是愛的關係的破裂。而基督徒所宣告的解決，是複活和末世宇宙更新的盼望
以上的觀察如何能組合成一起，提供更多的倫理清晰在這案例上？請待下回分解！下一期我準備演示如何進行倫理分析，然後在這分析上應用基督教的獨特觀點來引出一些結論，尤其是我們應該如何思考、感受、和採取行動。
註：作者為前任恩道神學院聖經科副教授，現為溫哥華宣道會福群堂主任牧師及西三一大學死海古巻研究所研究員。
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1 史丹利‧葛倫斯著，江淑敏譯：《基督教倫理學導論》（台北市：華神，2004），頁16。
Author: Dr. Rev. Marcus Tso / Chinese Translation: Rev. Antony Law
On February 27, 2020, CNN reported, "A California couple was heartbroken to say goodbye to their beloved dog, Marley. So they cloned him." This apparently happy story belies the serious ethical problems behind the promise of cloning technology.
Many Christians claim that the Bible serves as their moral compass and provides them, and even society, with ethical guidance. But a case like this illustrates the difficulty, if not impossibility, of applying an ancient text in a rapidly changing world. What does the Bible say about cloning pets, or should we imagine into the future, the same motivation and means applied to human beings? The difficulty of answering this question reveals that finding a Christian position on many issues is not as simple as looking up the issue in the Bible.
As challenging as it is, can Christians simply give up on such matters and uncritically accept social trends, or reject them based on a gut response, or even to disengage from the issue? As my professor in theology and ethics wrote, "To live as Christian in the contemporary situation requires that we engage with that situation. Such engagement involves a threefold activity that we might summarize with the words attuning, analyzing and applying."
I am honoured and humbled to be invited to write for this new column. Although my research interest since my PhD days remains to be an interdisciplinary approach to religious ethics in the context of early Judaism, my current ministry as a pastor leads me to write this for the kind of people I see in the pews each Sunday. With their world in mind, I want to use this first article of this new column to illustrate the method of Grenz's ethical engagement.
Attuning
This is the step of gathering relevant facts on the issues, both from a secular perspective and a specifically Christian one.
1. Context: loss of beloved family pet
2. Motivation: couple want to keep pet alive in the family because he has saved the wife's life
3. Means: cloning by a commercial company ViaGen for $50,000 US
a. Large animal cloning technology developed since 1996 with Dolly the sheep
b. Other pets commercially cloned since 2004
c. Cloning process involve taking tissue sample from the original dog before or shortly after death, from which cells with the dog's genes are inserted into another dog's egg cells
d. An embryo developed from such an artificially fused egg cell is implanted into a surrogate dog's uterus, followed by its natural gestation and birth
e. The cloned dog that is born is "basically an identical twin, just born at a later time"
4. Result: The cloned dog not only has the identical appearance to the dead one, but also the same personality, behaviour, and preferences, making everyone involved happy
5. Legality: There is no current law in Canada or the USA against animal cloning, commercial or otherwise
6. Christian faith perspectives: Finally, we cannot do ethical engagement as Christians without also attuning to what in our hermeneutical and theological traditions might be relevant to this case. Some such perspectives include, very briefly:
a. There are no biblical texts that speak directly on the issue of animal cloning
b. Although animals are not presented as equal to humans in the Bible, the Bible affirms the sacred value of animal lives as created and cared for by God, from sacrificial animals, to pets, to wildlife.
c. The Bible speaks on how humans ought to relate to animals, specifically on how humans ought to treat animals as God's creatures entrusted to their care
d. Theologically, the poignancy of death is the rupture of loving relationships. And the solution Christians proclaim is the hope of resurrection and the eschatological renewal of the cosmos.
How do these pieces above fit together to offer more ethical clarity in this case? Stay tuned for the next installment, in which I aim to demonstrate how one might perform an ethical analysis and apply specifically Christian perspectives on the analysis in order to draw some conclusions, especially in terms of how we ought to think, feel, and act.
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2 Stanley J. Grenz, The Moral Quest (Downer Gove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997), 18.
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_cloning Accessed Mar 4, 2020.b