SEARCH sponsors second of three 2021-22 lectures for Asbury University Honors Program Human Dignity Series
On February 10, the Asbury University Honors Program (AUHP) welcomed Dr. Calum MacKellar bioethicist from St. Mary’s University, London, UK to deliver a lecture titled “Resurrecting Eugenics: Should only Healthy Children Be Born?” to a packed room of students in the Kinlaw Library. The SEARCH-sponsored event was the second of a three-part lecture series on human dignity and value.
MacKellar addressed the discredited eugenic programmes of early twentieth century regimes that may now be resurfacing as more ‘sanitized’ selective eugenics and examined the urgent need to evaluate both current and future selection practices from a Christian perspective. With the possible selection of a future child’s health, athletic prowess or intelligence becoming ever more likely in the context of new developments in human reproduction, concerns are growing about the consequences of such selection on modern society.
Dr. Paul Nesselroade, director of the Asbury University Honors Program, reflected on the event.
“It was such a pleasure to have Dr. MacKellar on Asbury University’s campus,” Nesselroade said. “It is exciting to see AU students engage with the questions that the Human Dignity Lecture Series is raising.”
The event concluded with some thoughtful student questions. After the event, AUHP students attended a dinner at Windsor Manor where they engaged in a dialogue session with MacKellar.
The final lecture in AUHP’s Human Dignity Series for the 2021-22 academic year will be held on March 31. This lecture from Dr. Richard Weikart is titled “Are You the Image of God or a Cosmic Accident?”. Nesselroade invites guests from outside of the program to attend these lectures.
SEARCH will finish out the 2021-22 academic year with a faculty event in the Christianity & Science program, “Boundaries and Horizons: Engaging Faith, Science, and Humanities,” and the annual Symposium early April.
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SEARCH seeks to highlight transformative learning in the classroom and showcase academics through funded programming, events and marketing. Find its upcoming events here: https://www.asbury.edu/discover-search/opportunities/events/.
The Human Dignity Series contemplates virtue and human value, exploring humans as created in the image of God and the implications of that truth on our actions.