Theology Scholar to Discuss Bioethics and the Common Good

Lisa Sowle Cahill is a longtime professor of theology at Boston College and a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics. One of her main research interests is bioethics, the study of the profound philosophical implications of biological and medical procedures, treatments and technologies.

Cahill has advised U.S. bishops on issues surrounding AIDS, and presented at the Vatican about women’s health care. She is noted for her work in the areas of Catholic social ethics, sex and gender ethics, and the history of Christian ethics.

She will present Bioethics, Justice and the Common Good, the 2012 Joseph Cardinal  Bernardin Lecture, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at Elmhurst College's Frick Center.

The recipient of the 2008 John Courtner Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America for her “outstanding and influential contributions in diverse areas of Christian ethics,” Cahill is the author of eight books and editor of five others, including Love Your Enemies: Discipleship, Pacifism and Just War Theory; Theological Bioethics: Participation, Justice, and Change; and Genetics, Theology, Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Conversation. Cahill is the J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor at Boston College, and also has been a member of the Catholic Health Association Theology and Ethics Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Board for Ethics in Reproduction, and the March of Dimes National Bioethics Committee. She has given testimony to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on fetal tissue research and on cloning.